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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Installations Safety
Devoted specifically to the safety of nuclear installations and the health and safety of the public, this division seeks a better understanding of the role of safety in the design, construction and operation of nuclear installation facilities. The division also promotes engineering and scientific technology advancement associated with the safety of such facilities.
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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Latest News
Feinstein Institutes to research novel radiation countermeasure
The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, home of the research institutes of New York’s Northwell Health, announced it has received a five-year, $2.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to investigate the potential of human ghrelin, a naturally occurring hormone, as a medical countermeasure against radiation-induced gastrointestinal syndrome (GI-ARS).
Shinji Matsushita, Masafumi Nojima (Hitachi), Takeshi Sakai, Tadashi Fujii (Hitachi-Ge Nuclear)
Proceedings | 2018 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2018) | Charlotte, NC, April 8-11, 2018 | Pages 1098-1104
Corium cooling system plays an important role to prevent the interaction between the molten corium and concrete of a pedestal region. As the material for constituting the corium cooling system, zirconia-based refractory materials are promising due to its high melting points and chemical stabilities. To estimate the erosion depth of the refractory material in the severe accidents, we developed an interaction model for molten corium and zirconia refractory material based on the erosion mechanism. Our developed model were based on two main phenomena; reduction reaction of the zirconia refractory material and oxygen diffusion in the zirconia. On the interface of the molten corium, oxygen in the zirconia are extracted by the reduction reaction. On the other hand, in the zirconia, oxygen are transferred to the interface according to Fick's laws of diffusion because the reduction reactions induce concentration gradient of oxygen in the zirconia. Thus, the erosion rate of the zirconia are governed by the reduction reaction and oxygen diffusion. We modeled the erosion behaviors as three phase: (1) just reduction reaction phase, (2) transitional erosion phase, (3) steady erosion phase. As a result, we found that our model grasp the trend of the erosion behaviors. As the future works, we require to investigate the temperature dependency of the reduction reaction rate to evaluate more accurately.