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
May 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Proving DRACO will deliver
The United States is now closer than it has been in over five decades to launching the first nuclear thermal rocket into space, thanks to DRACO—the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Orbit.
Akito Takahashi, Toshiyuki Iida, Fujio Maekawa, Hisashi Sugimoto, Shigeo Yoshida
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 19 | Number 2 | March 1991 | Pages 380-390
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/FST91-A29373
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Based on the electron screening effect and the excitation of deuteron harmonic oscillators in a palladium lattice, possible explanations of cold fusion phenomena and the possibility of nuclear heating are discussed. A narrow window is proposed to reach the ∼10 W/cm3 required nuclear heating for three-body fusion by a hypothetical excitation-screening model. A relatively wide window is feasible to reach a few fusion events per second per cubic centimetre under the non-stationary conditions of deuteron charging and discharging. Cold fusion is not feasible under stationary lattice conditions. To confirm the cold fusion phenomena, a heavy water electrolysis experiment is carried out using biased-pulse electrolytic currents, in order to enhance the detection of cold fusion events during charging and discharging of deuterons. A cross-checking system consisting of a recoil-proton scintillation detector and a 3He thermal neutron detector is used to determine the patterns of neutron emission over time. To determine the energy of the emitted neutrons, the pulse-height spectra of the recoil-proton detector are monitored. For a deuterium charging time of 300 h, neutron yields of 1 to 2 n/s·cm3 are obtained for time intervals of 60 to 200 h. From the recoil-proton spectra, it is confirmed that 2.45-MeV neutrons from the D(d, n)3He fusion branch reaction are emitted. The observed time patterns of neutron emission suggest the existence of cold fusion under deuterium charging and discharging.