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
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
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.
Wade Marcum, Daniel LaBrier, Emory Brown, Yikuan Yan, Nicolas Woolstenhulme
Nuclear Technology | Volume 206 | Number 6 | June 2020 | Pages 895-910
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2020.1720559
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In 2017 the Transient Reactor Test (TREAT) Facility was restarted after having been placed in a standby state in 1994. The TREAT reactor’s restart has since enabled the progressive development of new nuclear technologies within the United States that previously were outsourced to other countries. While the reactor’s restart was a large feat worthy of recognition, the experimental use of its characteristics has required further development of an in-pile experimental infrastructure sufficient to support programmatic needs. This hardware has taken the form of capsule designs (compact and elongated) as well as loop concepts representing the phenomena of interest for a subset of the separate effects tests desired for each respective testing campaign. The transient testing program has been a large integrated effort that aligns with the U.S. Department of Energy’s current needs. This study complements those programmatic elements by developing, fabricating, and demonstrating a full-scale flowing water loop in an out-of-pile environment. The goal of this effort is to develop a pragmatic understanding of the engineering capabilities and limitations associated with geometric form factors, metering technology, and controls logic under the representative thermal-hydraulic conditions that would be experienced within the TREAT reactor during an in-pile reactivity-initiated accident test. The outcomes of this study result in an evaluation of the conceptual design of a comprehensive flowing water loop, including objective figures of merit for comparing unique instrumentation and the basis for their selection during operations. These efforts directly contribute to and are required for the further advancement of transient testing capabilities within the United States.