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
Robotics & Remote Systems
The Mission of the Robotics and Remote Systems Division is to promote the development and application of immersive simulation, robotics, and remote systems for hazardous environments for the purpose of reducing hazardous exposure to individuals, reducing environmental hazards and reducing the cost of performing work.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Proving DRACO will deliver
The United States is now closer than it has been in over five decades to launching the first nuclear thermal rocket into space, thanks to DRACO—the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Orbit.
David I. Poston, Patrick R. McClure, David D. Dixon, Marc A. Gibson, Lee S. Mason
Nuclear Technology | Volume 188 | Number 3 | December 2014 | Pages 229-237
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT13-71
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Los Alamos National Laboratory and Glenn Research Center with the help of National Security Technologies demonstrated the use of a nuclear fission system as a power source that transferred heat via a water-based heat pipe to a small Stirling engine–based power converter to produce electricity. This experimental setup demonstrated that a small reactor based on heat pipes and Stirling engines is possible and produces a system with well-characterized nuclear feedback between the reactor and the power conversion system. This paper describes the experimental setup, modeling of the system, and results that confirm the basic physics of the experiment.