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
Retrieval of nuclear waste canisters from a borehole
Borehole disposal of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level waste (HLW) uses off-the-shelf directional drilling technology developed and commercialized by the oil and gas sectors. It is a technology that has been gaining traction in recent years in the nuclear industry. Disposal can be done in one or more boreholes (including an array) drilled into suitable sedimentary, igneous, or metamorphic host rocks. Waste is encapsulated in specialized corrosion-resistant canisters, which are placed end to end in disposal sections of relatively small-diameter boreholes that have been cased and fluid-filled. After emplacement, the vertical access hole is plugged and backfilled as an engineered barrier.
Yoshiyuki Asaoka, Kunihiko Okano, Tomoaki Yoshida, Ken Tomabechi
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 30 | Number 3 | December 1996 | Pages 853-863
Fuel Cycle and Tritium Technology | doi.org/10.13182/FST96-A11963044
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Requirements of tritium breeding ratio and the initial inventory of tritium for early fusion power reactors were investigated with a calculation model. The results of calculated time-dependence of tritium inventory were examined, in particular from the following three points of view; the doubling time of tritium inventory in the storage system to provide the initial inventory of the next plant, the recovery time in which the tritium inventory in the storage system recovers to the initial value and the minimum tritium storage required during the operation. The following limits were adopted to evaluate the results, i.e., the doubling time shorter than 3 years, the recovery time shorter than 1 year and the minimum storage larger than the tritium for 50 days bum up. For a reference case, which assumes reasonable performance parameters of the fuel processing subsystems, the requirements for the tritium breeding ratio and the initial tritium inventory were estimated to be 1.10 and 27.6 kg, respectively. If a poor tritium processing system is assumed, the requirements become inevitably higher. On the other hand, mitigation of the requirements is not conspicuous even with a good processing system. The obtained results suggest that the high performance tritium processing is indispensable, but still insufficient for achievement of tritium self-sufficiency. From the point of view of tritium fuel supply, a blanket system with high tritium breeding ratio is also indispensable in early stage of fusion power reactor development, in order to introduce fusion reactors at a reasonable pace.