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
Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
Meeting Spotlight
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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
Article considers incorporation of AI into nuclear power plant operations
The potential application of artificial intelligence to the operation of nuclear power plants is explored in an article published in late December in the Washington Examiner. The article, written by energy and environment reporter Callie Patteson, presents the views of a number of experts, including Yavuz Arik, a strategic energy consultant.
Hiroshi Akie, Tadasumi Muromura, Hideki Takano, Shojiro Matsuura
Nuclear Technology | Volume 107 | Number 2 | August 1994 | Pages 182-192
Technical Paper | Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT107-182
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
For the burning of plutonium derived from nuclear warheads, once-through type oxide fuels have been studied by considering their proliferation resistance and environmental safety as well as their technological backgrounds of fuel fabrication and reactors. From phase relations of ceramic materials and their chemical properties, it seems that a two-phase mixture of a fluorite-type phase and alumina has favorable characteristics as a once-through-type fuel of plutonium burning. It also seems that the fluorite-type phases such as thoria and fully stabilized zirconia are acceptable as host phases of plutonium because of high solid solubility of the actinide elements and fission products, irradiation stability, and chemical stability. The spent fuels finally obtained will become mineral-like waste forms, which could be buried under deep geological formations without further processing. From reactor burnup calculations with the use of the fuels, light water reactors (LWRs) with the larger volume ratio of moderator to fuel than 1.4, such as conventional LWRs, are considered to be suitable for the once-through plutonium burning. Furthermore, such LWRs can transmute nearly 99% of 239Pu and 85% of initial loaded weapons-grade plutonium. The quality of plutonium becomes completely poor in the spent fuels.