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Division Spotlight
Young Members Group
The Young Members Group works to encourage and enable all young professional members to be actively involved in the efforts and endeavors of the Society at all levels (Professional Divisions, ANS Governance, Local Sections, etc.) as they transition from the role of a student to the role of a professional. It sponsors non-technical workshops and meetings that provide professional development and networking opportunities for young professionals, collaborates with other Divisions and Groups in developing technical and non-technical content for topical and national meetings, encourages its members to participate in the activities of the Groups and Divisions that are closely related to their professional interests as well as in their local sections, introduces young members to the rules and governance structure of the Society, and nominates young professionals for awards and leadership opportunities available to members.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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February 2025
Latest News
RP3C Community of Practice’s fifth anniversary
In February, the Community of Practice (CoP) webinar series, hosted by the American Nuclear Society Standards Board’s Risk-informed, Performance-based Principles and Policies Committee (RP3C), celebrated its fifth anniversary. Like so many online events, these CoPs brought people together at a time when interacting with others became challenging in early 2020. Since the kickoff CoP, which highlighted the impact that systems engineering has on the design of NuScale’s small modular reactor, the last Friday of most months has featured a new speaker leading a discussion on the use of risk-informed, performance-based (RIPB) thinking in the nuclear industry. Providing a venue to convene for people within ANS and those who found their way online by another route, CoPs are an opportunity for the community to receive answers to their burning questions about the subject at hand. With 50–100 active online participants most months, the conversation is always lively, and knowledge flows freely.
R. F. Domagala, T. C. Wiencek, H. R. Thresh
Nuclear Technology | Volume 62 | Number 3 | September 1983 | Pages 353-360
Technical Note | Nuclear Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT83-A33258
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
As part of the National Reduced Enrichment Research and Test Reactor Program, Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) is engaged in a fuel alloy development project. The reduction of the 235U enrichment from above 90% to below 20% for such fuels would lessen the risk of diversion of the fuel for nonpeaceful uses. Fuel alloy powder prepared with low-enrich-ment uranium (<20% 235U) is dispersed in an aluminum matrix, and metallurgically roll bonded within a cladding of 6061 aluminum alloy. Miniplates with up to 55 vol% fuel alloy (up to 7.0 g total U/cm3) have been successfully fabricated. Fifty-five of these plates have been or are being irradiated in the Oak Ridge Research Reactor. Three fuel alloys have been used in the ANL miniplates: U3Si (U+4 wt% Si), U3Si2 (U + 7.5 wt% Si), and “U3SiAl” (U + 3.5 wt% Si + 1.5 wt% Al). All are candidates for permitting higher fuel loadings and thus lower enrichments of 235U than would be possible with either UAlx or U3O8, the current fuels for plate-type elements. A target loading of up to 7.0 g U/cm3 in the fuel zone was selected. To date the fabrication and irradiation results with the silicide fuels have been encouraging, and as an adjunct to the development effort, ANL is engaged in the early stages of technology transfer with commercial fabricators of fuel elements for research reactors. Continuing effort also involves the development of a technology for full-sized plate fabrication and the irradiation of miniplates to a burnup of ∼90% 235 U depletion.