ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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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.
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.
Anthony W. LaPorta
Nuclear Technology | Volume 205 | Number 10 | October 2019 | Pages 1290-1301
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2019.1565471
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Transient Reactor Test (TREAT) facility was constructed in 1958 and became operational in 1959. The TREAT reactor is an air-cooled test reactor that can be operated in multiple modes: up to 20 GW for short-duration “burst” pulses (approximately 100 to 200 ms) producing an intense neutron pulse; lower power (megawatt range)–shaped transients intended to simulate fuel heating prior to accident conditions being imposed; or in a low power mode of up to 120 kW for experiment preconditioning or neutron radiography. TREAT operated from 1959 through 1994 when it was put into a standby condition. With the accident at Fukashima-Daiichi that resulted in extensive fuel failure, the U.S. Department of Energy selected TREAT for restart and irradiation of new accident-tolerant fuel designs for U.S. commercial nuclear plants. This paper discusses the basic process that was used to perform the initial criticality following the TREAT extended shutdown operation from 1994 to 2017.