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
Young Members Group
The Young Members Group works to encourage and enable all young professional members to be actively involved in the efforts and endeavors of the Society at all levels (Professional Divisions, ANS Governance, Local Sections, etc.) as they transition from the role of a student to the role of a professional. It sponsors non-technical workshops and meetings that provide professional development and networking opportunities for young professionals, collaborates with other Divisions and Groups in developing technical and non-technical content for topical and national meetings, encourages its members to participate in the activities of the Groups and Divisions that are closely related to their professional interests as well as in their local sections, introduces young members to the rules and governance structure of the Society, and nominates young professionals for awards and leadership opportunities available to members.
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
Fusion Energy Week begins today
Fusion is riding a surge of attention that began in December 2022 when researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility achieved fusion ignition. The organizers of Fusion Energy Week—a group called the U.S. Fusion Outreach Team—on the other hand, trace fusion development back 100 years to the doctoral research of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, who discovered that stars, including our Sun, are mostly made of hydrogen and helium, which in turn led to the understanding that those elements are the “fuel” of potential fusion energy systems on Earth. In recognition of Payne-Gaposchkin’s birthday—May 10—the U.S. Fusion Outreach Team plans to hold a “grassroots celebration of fusion energy” May 6–10, 2024, and annually during the second week of May.
Sümer Sahin, Haci Mehmet Sahin, Adnan Sözen
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 33 | Number 4 | July 1998 | Pages 418-434
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST98-A41
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Basic nuclear data for a design concept with inertial fusion energy propulsion for manned or heavy cargo deep space missions beyond earth orbit have been evaluated. Fusion power deposited in the inertial confined fuel pellet debris delivers the rocket propulsion with the help of a magnetic nozzle.The superconducting magnets of the magnetic nozzle are protected against neutron and gamma-ray radiation by a massive shielding. Throughout the shielding, the nuclear heating, caused by neutrons and gamma rays has been calculated. As a critical issue for this design concept, special attention is paid to the nuclear heating in the superconducting magnet coils. The neutron and gamma-ray penetration into the coils is calculated using the Sn methods with a high angular resolution in r-z geometry in S16 P3 approximation by dividing the solid space angle in 160 sectors.Total peak nuclear heat generation density in the coils is calculated as 64.5 W/cm3 by a fusion power of 17 500 MW. Peak neutron heating density is 30.8 W/cm3, and peak gamma-ray heating density is 40.6 W/cm3 (on a different point). However, volume-averaged heat generation in the coils is much lower, namely, 2.17, 8.49, and 10.66 W/cm3 for neutron, gamma-ray, and total nuclear heating, respectively.A conically shaped frozen hydrogen expellant reduces the neutron streaming toward the spacecraft by a factor of ~12.5 via neutron scattering on hydrogen and deflection into vacuum, in addition to the geometric neutron flux attenuation in space by 1/r2. The results of these calculations can help to increase the credibility of the vehicle for interplanetary space transport applications design concept.