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 Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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
Glass strategy: Hanford’s enhanced waste glass program
The mission of the Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection (ORP) is to complete the safe cleanup of waste resulting from decades of nuclear weapons development. One of the most technologically challenging responsibilities is the safe disposition of approximately 56 million gallons of radioactive waste historically stored in 177 tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
ORP has a clear incentive to reduce the overall mission duration and cost. One pathway is to develop and deploy innovative technical solutions that can advance baseline flow sheets toward higher efficiency operations while reducing identified risks without compromising safety. Vitrification is the baseline process that will convert both high-level and low-level radioactive waste at Hanford into a stable glass waste form for long-term storage and disposal.
Although vitrification is a mature technology, there are key areas where technology can further reduce operational risks, advance baseline processes to maximize waste throughput, and provide the underpinning to enhance operational flexibility; all steps in reducing mission duration and cost.
Yuri Yoshihara, Etsuko Furuta, Ryu-ichiro Ohyama, Shigeaki Yokota, Yuka Kato, Tomoyuki Yoshimura, Kiyoshi Ogiwara
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 67 | Number 3 | April 2015 | Pages 654-657
Proceedings of TRITIUM 2013 | doi.org/10.13182/FST14-T103
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Tritium is usually measured by using a liquid scintillation counter. However, liquid scintillator used for measurement will be radioactive waste fluid. To solve this issue, we have developed the method of measuring tritium samples with plasma-treated plastic scintillator sheets instead of liquid scintillator (Plasma method). With the Plasma method of 2-min plasma treatment, we had obtained measurement efficiency of 48 ± 2 % for 2 min measurement of tritium except for tritiated water. On the other hand, it needed almost 6 hours to obtain constant measurement efficiency. We tried putting silica gel beads into vials to remove H2O molecules from PS sheet surface quickly. The silica gel beads worked well and we got constant measurement efficiency within 1-3 hours. Also, we tried using other kinds of PS treated with plasma to obtain higher measurement efficiencies of tritium samples.
