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
Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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
The busyness of the nuclear fuel supply chain
Ken Petersenpresident@ans.org
With all that is happening in the industry these days, the nuclear fuel supply chain is still a hot topic. The Russian assault in Ukraine continues to upend the “where” and “how” of attaining nuclear fuel—and it has also motivated U.S. legislators to act.
Two years into the Russian war with Ukraine, things are different. The Inflation Reduction Act was passed in 2022, authorizing $700 million in funding to support production of high-assay low-enriched uranium in the United States. Meanwhile, the Department of Energy this January issued a $500 million request for proposals to stimulate new HALEU production. The Emergency National Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2024 includes $2.7 billion in funding for new uranium enrichment production. This funding was diverted from the Civil Nuclear Credits program and will only be released if there is a ban on importing Russian uranium into the United States—which could happen by the time this column is published, as legislation that bans Russian uranium has passed the House as of this writing and is headed for the Senate. Also being considered is legislation that would sanction Russian uranium. Alternatively, the Biden-Harris administration may choose to ban Russian uranium without legislation in order to obtain access to the $2.7 billion in funding.
Dan Gabriel Cepraga, Gilio Cambi, Manuela Frisoni, Gian Carlo Panini
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 34 | Number 3 | November 1998 | Pages 969-973
Neutronics Experiments and Analysis (Poster Session) | doi.org/10.13182/FST98-A11963738
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The ANITA-4/F is a code package for the activation characterisation of materials exposed to neutrons in fusion machines. The package has been intensively used by ENEA for safety assessment of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor ITER to evaluate the activated corrosion product source terms. This paper presents a summary description of the package and gives the details of its capabilities. The main component of the package is an updated version of the activation code ANITA that computes the radioactive inventory of a material subject to neutron irradiation, continuous or stepwise. It provides activity, atomic density, decay heat, biological hazard and gamma-ray source of each nuclide; total activity, decay heat, contact dose equivalent, gamma-ray spectra and other relevant parameters, for the irradiated material, versus cooling time. As an option, those parameters may be plotted by the GRANITA module, as a function of the cooling time. The code is provided with a complete data base that includes: 1) the FENDL/A-2 neutron activation data libraries (both for the standard 100 GAM-II and 175 VITAMIN-J groups structure), 2) the FENDL/D-2 decay data library, 3) the ICRP dose coefficients for ingestion and inhalation of radionuclides. Arbitrary structure can be used for the neutron irradiation spectrum. It is internally converted to one of the standard structures. Continuous or multi-steps (up to 2000 burn-dwell intervals) can be considered for the operational scenario. A different level of the irradiation flux can be used for each one of the exposure time step. The paper presents also, as an example, an application to the neutron exposure characterisation for the AISI 316 LN of the first wall, with reference to the basic performance phase of ITER.