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
Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
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.
J. D. Galambos, D. J. Strickler, N. A. Uckan
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 34 | Number 3 | November 1998 | Pages 573-578
Plasma Engineering (Poster Session) | doi.org/10.13182/FST98-A11963675
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The tokamak systems code (SuperCode) is used to identify lower-cost ITER options. Superconducting coil, lower-cost options are found by: (1) reducing the ITER technical objectives (e.g., driven burn and lower wall load), (2) using more aggressive physics (advanced physics) assumptions (e.g., higher shaping, better confinement, higher beta, etc.), and (3) more aggressive engineering assumptions (reduced shield/gaps and inductive requirements). Under ITER nominal physics assumptions, but designing for a driven Q = 10 operation results in ∼30% cost reduction if the required neutron wall load is dropped to 0.5 MW/m2. Assuming advanced physics guidelines leads to cost savings of up to 40% in an ignited device with a major radius as low as R = 5.5 m. Designing this device for Q = 10 results in additional cost savings of 10%. If reduced inboard shield and scrapeoff is assumed, and no inductive capability is required, machine size and cost benefits tend to saturate at about R = 5 m and 50% of the ITER-EDA cost.