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Division Spotlight
Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
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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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Latest News
First astatine-labeled compound shipped in the U.S.
The Department of Energy’s National Isotope Development Center (NIDC) on March 31 announced the successful long-distance shipment in the United States of a biologically active compound labeled with the medical radioisotope astatine-211 (At-211). Because previous shipments have included only the “bare” isotope, the NIDC has described the development as “unleashing medical innovation.”
Sylvie Delpech, Gérard Picard, Jörgen Finne, Eric Walle, Olivier Conocar, Annabelle Laplace, Jérôme Lacquement
Nuclear Technology | Volume 163 | Number 3 | September 2008 | Pages 373-381
Technical Paper | Molten Salt Chemistry and Technology | doi.org/10.13182/NT08-A3996
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Pyrochemical separation processes are considered to treat spent nuclear fuel and particularly to separate fission products from actinides. In order to estimate the efficiency and selectivity for various extraction processes based on a molten salt/solvent metal separation technique, we have to know the properties of the elements to be extracted in each solvent, notably their activity coefficients in the two phases. The classical way to measure the activity coefficient of an element in a liquid metal is to use a concentration cell whose the electromotive force is measured. This type of cell involves two electrodes: (a) the element investigated in its pure metallic form and (b) the element solvated in the solvent metal. The electrolyte used for this study is a chloride melt that contains the element under consideration as a solute. In this paper, an effort was made to measure activity coefficients in liquid metals by means of electrochemical techniques rather than a potentiometric technique. The experimental protocol was optimized by measuring the activity coefficient of gadolinium in liquid gallium (solvent metal) (Gd/Ga) at 530°C for several amounts of gadolinium in gallium, and log (Gd/Ga) was determined to be equal to -10.17 (mole fraction scale). Then, the temperature dependence of the activity coefficient was determined in the range of 535 to 630°C. It appears that log (Gd/Ga) varies linearly with the reciprocal value of T, thus following the theoretical variation. The electrochemical method was also performed to determine the activity coefficient of plutonium in liquid gallium at 560°C. The value of log (Pu/Ga) so obtained is equal to -8.04 (mole fraction scale). This value was confirmed using electrochemical and potentiometric measurements with a plutonium-saturated gallium electrode.
