ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Division Spotlight
Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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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Latest News
TerraPower begins U.K. regulatory approval process
Seattle-based TerraPower signaled its interest this week in building its Natrium small modular reactor in the United Kingdom, the company announced.
TerraPower sent a letter to the U.K.’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, formally establishing its intention to enter the U.K. generic design assessment (GDA) process. This is TerraPower’s first step in deployment of its Natrium technology—a 345-MW sodium fast reactor coupled with a molten salt energy storage unit—on the international stage.
Gerhard J. Schlosser, Wolf-Dieter Krebs, Peter Urban
Nuclear Technology | Volume 102 | Number 1 | April 1993 | Pages 54-67
Technical Paper | Mixed-Oxide Fuel / Nuclear Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/NT93-A34802
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Germany has adopted the strategy of a closed fuel cycle using reprocessing and recycling. The central issue today is plutonium recycling by the use of U-Pu mixed-oxide (MOX) in pressurized water reactors (PWRs) and boiling water reactors (BWRs). The design of MOX fuel assemblies and fuel management in MOX-containing cores are strongly influenced by the nuclear properties of the plutonium isotopes. Optimized MOX fuel assembly designs for PWRs currently use up to three types of MOX fuel rods having different plutonium contents with natural uranium or uranium tailings as carrier material but without burnable absorbers. The MOX fuel assembly designs for BWRs use four to six rod types with different plutonium contents and Gd2O3/UO2 burnable absorber rods. Both the PWR and the BWR designs attain good burnup equivalence and compatibility with uranium fuel assemblies. High flexibility exists in the loading schemes relative to the position and number of MOX fuel assemblies in the reloads and in the core as a whole. The Siemens experience with MOX fuel assemblies is based on the insertion of 318 MOX fuel assemblies in eight PWRs and 168 in BWRs and pressurized heavy water reactors so far. The primary operating results include information on the cycle length, power distribution, reactivity coefficients, and control rod worth of cores containing MOX fuel assemblies. Normal levels of reliability and safety can be maintained during reactor operation even with higher MOX fuel fractions, fissile contents, and burnup.