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
Education, Training & Workforce Development
The Education, Training & Workforce Development Division provides communication among the academic, industrial, and governmental communities through the exchange of views and information on matters related to education, training and workforce development in nuclear and radiological science, engineering, and technology. Industry leaders, education and training professionals, and interested students work together through Society-sponsored meetings and publications, to enrich their professional development, to educate the general public, and to advance nuclear and radiological science and engineering.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Jul 2024
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
ARPA-E announces $40 million to develop transmutation technologies for UNF
The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) announced $40 million in funding to develop cutting-edge technologies to enable the transmutation of used nuclear fuel into less-radioactive substances. According to ARPA-E, the new initiative addresses one of the agency’s core goals as outlined by Congress: to provide transformative solutions to improve the management, cleanup, and disposal of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.
N. Kaffezakis, D. Kotlyar
Nuclear Technology | Volume 206 | Number 1 | January 2020 | Pages 48-72
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2019.1616475
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper details the development and optimization of a novel seed blanket fuel assembly designed for utilizing high-conversion Th-233U fuel cycles in the current fleet of pressurized water reactor vessels. Previous studies have revealed the necessity to downrate the total power of cores loaded with seed blanket assemblies due to issues with high power density in the seed regions and thermal-hydraulic failure. This new design features solid packing of the blanket region with the objective of increasing the total power and the economic competitiveness. This paper utilized the Serpent code to study the depletion of various designs of the solid blanket assembly, and THERMO is utilized for thermal-hydraulic analysis. A favorable design was developed that attained an excess 1.7% fissile material from the initial loading and that can be run at a maximum power up to 66% greater than the comparable designs used as references in this paper.