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
Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
Meeting Spotlight
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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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Christmas Night
Twas the night before Christmas when all through the houseNo electrons were flowing through even my mouse.
All devices were plugged in by the chimney with careWith the hope that St. Nikola Tesla would share.
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.