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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy
The mission of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy Division (NNPD) is to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology while simultaneously preventing the diversion and misuse of nuclear material and technology through appropriate safeguards and security, and promotion of nuclear nonproliferation policies. To achieve this mission, the objectives of the NNPD are to: Promote policy that discourages the proliferation of nuclear technology and material to inappropriate entities. Provide information to ANS members, the technical community at large, opinion leaders, and decision makers to improve their understanding of nuclear nonproliferation issues. Become a recognized technical resource on nuclear nonproliferation, safeguards, and security issues. Serve as the integration and coordination body for nuclear nonproliferation activities for the ANS. Work cooperatively with other ANS divisions to achieve these objective nonproliferation policies.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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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Latest News
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
Guanghui Wang, Hui He, Yaorui Li, Meng Zhang, Yang Gao, Caishan Jiao
Nuclear Technology | Volume 209 | Number 9 | September 2023 | Pages 1373-1381
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2199905
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The contaminated solvent from the Purex process is washed with alkaline detergents such as sodium carbonate, which generates a large amount of secondary wastes. Therefore, hydrazine carbonate as a salt-free reagent deserves to be studied in depth. In this study, the Ce(IV), U(VI), and Zr(IV) metal ions in organic phases containing dibutyl phosphate (HDBP) of 30% tributyl phosphate (TBP)–dodecane were washed with hydrazine carbonate. The effects of the oscillation time (1 to 15 min); temperature (25°C to 85°C); cumulative number of washes (one to four times); mass fraction of hydrazine carbonate (0.1% to 20%); volume ratio of the aqueous phase to the organic phase (0.2 to 5); HDBP concentration (0 to 0.4 M); HNO3 concentration (0.05 to 8 M); and concentration of Ce(IV), U(VI), and Zr(IV) metal ions on the removal percentages of Ce(IV), U(VI), and Zr(IV) metal ions in polluted solvents were studied. The results showed that when the organic phase containing 0.02 M HDBP was washed three times with 5% hydrazine carbonate at 25°C, the removal percentages of the Ce(IV), U(VI), and Zr(IV) ions were 96%, 98%, and 94%, respectively. Meanwhile, the retention concentrations of the three in the organic phase were 35, 28, and 78 mg/L, respectively. The increase of the mass fraction of hydrazine carbonate enhances the removal of the metal ions from the organic phase into the aqueous phase. High acid is not conducive to alkaline washing of metal ions. The increase of HDBP concentration not only promotes extraction but also increases the retention capacity of the organic phase and has the most significant effect on Zr(IV). U(VI) promotes the preferential washing of Zr(IV) while Ce(IV) increases the metal retention concentration of Zr(IV) in the organic phase.
