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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
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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Latest News
Commercial nuclear innovation "new space" age
In early 2006, a start-up company launched a small rocket from a tiny island in the Pacific. It exploded, showering the island with debris. A year later, a second launch attempt sent a rocket to space but failed to make orbit, burning up in the atmosphere. Another year brought a third attempt—and a third failure. The following month, in September 2008, the company used the last of its funds to launch a fourth rocket. It reached orbit, making history as the first privately funded liquid-fueled rocket to do so.
Allen G. Croff, Steven L. Krahn
Nuclear Technology | Volume 194 | Number 2 | May 2016 | Pages 271-280
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NT15-46
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper compares the radiotoxicity of thorium-based and uranium-based spent nuclear fuels and reprocessing wastes to inform evaluation of whether thorium-based fuels are significantly less radiotoxic than uranium-based fuels, as has been claimed at times in the technical literature. A consistent approach for calculating the radiotoxicity is established for four oxide fuel types in a pressurized water reactor: low-enrichment uranium, uranium with plutonium fissile material, thorium with 233U fissile material, and thorium with plutonium fissile material. The results of the calculations are presented to display the radiotoxicity trends and are analyzed to determine (a) what underlies the indicated radiotoxicity trends for decay times from 1 year to 20 million years and (b) factors that may have led to erroneous conclusions concerning the comparative radiotoxicity of thorium- and uranium-based fuels. The overall conclusion is that the ingestion radiotoxicity of thorium-based fuels containing 233U or plutonium fissile materials is similar to the radiotoxicity of uranium-based fuels containing 235U or plutonium fissile materials but that within this overall similarity there are significant differences in radiotoxicity in specific eras during decay.