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
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
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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
Mar 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
February 2024
Latest News
Lightbridge announces first U-Zr fuel rod samples extruded at INL
Lightbridge Corporation announced today that it has reached “a critical milestone” in the development of its extruded solid fuel technology. Coupon samples using an alloy of zirconium and depleted uranium—not the high-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) that Lightbridge plans to use to manufacture its fuel for the commercial market—were extruded at Idaho National Laboratory’s Materials and Fuels Complex.
H. L. Wilkens, A. V. Hamza, A. Nikroo, N. E. Teslich
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 49 | Number 4 | May 2006 | Pages 809-812
Technical Paper | Target Fabrication | doi.org/10.13182/FST06-A1205
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The current point design for ignition targets for the National Ignition Facility has a beryllium ablator. As Be is essentially impermeable to hydrogen, conceptually the shell will be filled by boring through the shell with a laser, then attaching a fill-tube. Examination of focused ion beam (FIB) technology is under way as an alternative to laser drilling. Holes of 40, 20, and 15 m diameter have been successfully ion milled through a 47 m thick Be layer. These holes are clean, though take several hours to make, and the geometry is limited by the aspect ratio of the depth to the diameter of the hole. Work was also done to investigate the possibility of using a FIB to create a counter-bore for the insertion and attachment of a fill-tube in a Be shell which has a pre-existing hole. Because the FIB can be controlled to sub-micron scales, the counter-bore can be easily centered on the through-hole and the side-walls and base of the counter-bore can be made very smooth. Finally, a proof-of-principle experiment was made to show that a Be wire could be attached to an in-situ micromanipulator and then be placed inside the counter-bore.