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
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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.
Kieran Dolan, Steven Huang, Micah Hackett, Lin-Wen Hu
Nuclear Technology | Volume 207 | Number 10 | October 2021 | Pages 1578-1598
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2020.1829428
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Mitigating the release of tritium produced from neutron irradiation of molten salts containing lithium or beryllium is a technical challenge for several advanced reactor designs. In a pebble bed Fluoride-Salt-Cooled High-Temperature Reactor (FHR), tritium generated in the Li2BeF4 (Flibe) coolant is expected to interact with the large inventory of graphite in the core. The degree to which tritium is retained in the FHR core graphite is important to understand in order to predict the tritium distribution in the reactor, operational dose rates in the plant, tritium source term, and optimal strategies to mitigate environmental release. Tritium retention in graphite is simulated in this work based on a model that considers tritium diffusion from Flibe into graphite pores as well as diffusion and trapping in graphite grains. The retention model was implemented into the TRIDENT model framework to study tritium transport at the FHR system level. Tritium permeation through the FHR primary heat exchanger was the largest source of release from the primary system, followed by tritium retention and recirculation of graphite fuel pebbles.