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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.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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.
Dawei Pan, Weixing Huang, Qiang Chen, Sufen Chen, Zhanwen Zhang, Meifang Liu, Bo Li
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 73 | Number 1 | January 2018 | Pages 59-67
Technical Note | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2017.1372678
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Drying is one of the most important processes to prepare the hollow polystyrene (PS) shells which meet the requirements for the inertial confined fusion experiments. A tracing experiment was taken by white light interferometer to explore the drying process. The results indicate that the inner water drop passed through the PS shells with the state of water stream molecule. During the experiment, three structures were observed by digital microscope: the structure of craze, mixture of craze and cracks, and cracks. With ongoing drying, the decrease in the interfacial energy was regarded as the inducing factor for the formation of craze, while the residual stress inside the PS shells was the primary cause. Once the craze formed, it not only reduced the strength of the PS shells but also served as the stress concentration point. In the function of adequate time and stress, the voids of craze would coalesce resulting in the cracks formation. High-temperature treatment to the PS shells at 75°C for 3 h was taken to eliminate the residual stress so that the integrated PS shells would be produced. In addition, the comparison of surface roughness between all of the drying conditions is discussed.