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
Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls
Improving task performance, system reliability, system and personnel safety, efficiency, and effectiveness are the division's main objectives. Its major areas of interest include task design, procedures, training, instrument and control layout and placement, stress control, anthropometrics, psychological input, and motivation.
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
Apr 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
EPA issues final rule regulating “forever chemicals”
The Environmental Protection Agency announced that it will issue a rule aimed at limiting public exposure to per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). The final rule will designate two widely used PFAS chemicals, perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), as hazardous substances under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), also known as Superfund.
According to the EPA, both PFOA and PFOS meet the statutory criteria for designation as hazardous substances.
Zhanjie Xu, Rainer Meyder, Ulrich Fischer, Jörg Rey
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 52 | Number 1 | July 2007 | Pages 100-106
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1489
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Since the helium-cooled pebble bed (HCPB) breeding blanket was accepted as a reference blanket concept for a future DEMO reactor in the European Union almost 10 yr ago, research and development on the breeder unit (BU) has been conducted. As the basic module of the modular blanket segmentation, the BU is the key component to fulfill the prescribed functions of the breeding blanket. In the paper, two design schemes of the HCPB BU are discussed: (a) a design with double breeder beds confined by an m-shaped container and (b) a design with a single breeder bed confined by a simpler n-shaped container. The first design features a stack of parallel straightforward channels in the cooling plates, and the second design features a group of meandering channels. The two BU variants are analyzed numerically with regard to the performance of their neutronics, thermal hydraulics, and structural mechanics. Based on the numerical analyses, the two variants are compared in the three aspects. Finally, possible improvements on the HCPB BU designs are proposed.