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
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.
Swaminathan Vaidyanathan
Nuclear Technology | Volume 206 | Number 10 | October 2020 | Pages 1538-1552
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2019.1706377
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A fuel rod design consisting of a bimetallic cladding tube of thorium metal bonded to a zirconium alloy and containing seed fuel in the interior space is proposed for thorium utilization in pressurized water reactors. The design mitigates the severe thermal penalty that arises in radial microheterogeneous designs when thorium is present as an oxide. The level of thorium loading has an important effect on the achievable discharge exposure as too high a loading results in a large reactivity penalty that is not compensated by rapid enough 233U breeding. In the bimetallic cladding design, the level of thorium loading could be adjusted by varying the thorium metal thickness, and analyses are presented to evaluate optimal levels of thorium loading. Results of cases for higher levels of initial seed loading are presented with a view to extending exposure and reducing the number of discharged assemblies. Liquid metal bonding the seed fuel–cladding gap is preferable as it reduces the seed fuel temperature and at the same time provides more room for fuel swelling. Helium bonding the gap is also possible with a seed fuel modified by an inert matrix. Both approaches need data for fuel thermal modeling, swelling, and fission gas release at high burnup not currently available.