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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2025
Nuclear Technology
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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.
Colby Jensen, Austin Fleming
Nuclear Technology | Volume 205 | Number 10 | October 2019 | Pages 1354-1368
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2019.1627123
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A fuel safety research program centered on in-pile transient testing experiments is being developed to support assessment and qualification of advanced nuclear fuel systems using the recently restarted Transient Reactor Test (TREAT) facility at the Idaho National Laboratory. While resumption of transient testing at TREAT is crucial to enable these programs, full recovery and cutting-edge transient testing capability also require a well-coordinated and innovative instrumentation development and qualification program to support near-term and future objectives. This paper summarizes the experimental approach of transient testing to focus on measuring the response of nuclear fuel to off-normal (or power-cooling mismatch) conditions for modern and advanced reactor environments requiring capabilities extending over wide measurement and environment conditions. It also highlights unique attributes of transient testing of importance to in-pile instruments including relatively low total neutron fluence, high gamma heating, and the need for a well-defined and possibly short time response. Historical approaches to instrumentation for transient testing are also reviewed to provide context to the modern instrument strategy. The paper details the instrumentation needs of modern transient testing. It also summarizes several ongoing research and development (R&D) activities that support the development of state-of-the-art and advanced measurement technologies that will provide a baseline capability for light water reactor and sodium-cooled fast reactor (SFR) experiment objectives. This R&D will extend to other advanced reactor needs and advanced sensing technology opportunities. Examples of specific sensors planned for near-term deployment with ongoing development include prompt response self-powered neutron detectors, miniature fission chambers, optical fiber–coupled infrared pyrometers, cladding surface thermocouples, electrical impedance–based boiling detectors, and linear variable differential transformer–based sensors for fuel elongation and pressure measurement.