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Division Spotlight
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
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!
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
February 2024
Latest News
Can hydrogen be the transportation fuel in an otherwise nuclear economy?
Let’s face it: The global economy should be powered primarily by nuclear power. And it probably will by the end of this century, with a still-significant assist from renewables and hydro. Once nuclear systems are dominant, the costs come down to where gas is now; and when carbon emissions are reduced to a small portion of their present state, it will become obvious that most other sources are only good in niche settings. I mean, why use small modular reactors to load-follow when they can just produce that power instead of buffering it?
I. Cook et al.
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 47 | Number 3 | April 2005 | Pages 384-392
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - Experimental Devices and Advanced Designs | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A719
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The European Power Plant Conceptual Study (PPCS) reported in the summer of 2004. Several conceptual designs ("Models") for commercial fusion power plants were developed, spanning a range from relatively near term to more substantial extrapolations. The parameters of the Models were chosen by systems analysis to be economically optimal, given the assigned constraints on plasma and technology performance. The conceptual designs were developed in some detail and analyses were made of their safety, environmental impacts and economic performance. The calculated cost of generating electricity from the Models is in the range of published estimates for the future costs from other sources. Even the near-term Models are economically viable. External costs are very low, for all the Models: similar to wind power and much less than for fossil fuels. Economic optimization of the designs did not jeopardize their safety and environmental performance. All the Models proved to have the attractive and substantial safety and environmental advantages found in earlier studies, now established with greater confidence.