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Division Spotlight
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.
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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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.
Kirk L. Shanahan
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 71 | Number 4 | May 2017 | Pages 555-564
Technical Note | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2017.1291042
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Tritium decays to 3He, and when this decay occurs inside a metal tritide, the 3He is largely retained in the material’s bulk. This impacts the subsequent behavior of the hydrogen isotope absorption and desorption, altering the materials thermodynamic characteristics. Chemical substitution can form alternative miscible hydridable metal alloys over some concentration ranges with modified thermodynamic properties. This allows the ‘tuning’ of metal hydride characteristics to expand the inventory of available materials for use, potentially allowing a closer match to desired performance characteristics. It is important to quantify tritium aging effects in order to predict the long term, in-process behavior of metal hydride materials. The Savannah River National Laboratory has been interested in elucidating the impact of tritium exposure on the behavior of hydrideable metals and metal alloys. Pd alloy foils of nominal 5 and 9 at% Cr, Ni, and Co, were loaded with tritium, and stored for ~1 year in static storage. One sample (Pd-4.8 at% Ni) was subsequently stored for an additional ~3 years. Isotherms were determined following storage periods to study the tritium induced changes caused by tritium decay. Typical effects such as plateau pressure depression and heel formation were noted. The materials proved to be unusually sensitive to the isotherm determination process and decay effects were partially reversed, or “healed”. The Pd-4.8wt%Ni sample was removed from its storage unit, whereupon it was found to have turned into powder, and further studied with additional techniques elsewhere.