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
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.
J. R. Seeker, R. W. Miller, L. T. Mayhue, R. N. Milanova
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 121 | Number 1 | September 1995 | Pages 142-152
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE95-A24136
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Advanced fuel, burnable absorber, and control rod designs along with advanced fuel management and power distribution control strategies will be implemented in the first operating cycle of the Czech Republic’s Temelin VVER-1000 nuclear power plants. These improvements increase safety margins, enhance operability, and improve fuel efficiency. The Westinghouse WANTAGE 6 fuel assembly design incorporates many proven advanced fuel and core design features used extensively in western pressurized water reactors. The fuel assembly incorporates mixing vane structural grids, radial enrichment zoning, ZrB2 integral fuel burnable absorbers, axial blankets, and Zircaloy guide thimbles and structural grids. Low-leakage loading patterns are also used to reduce radial neutron leakage. The rod cluster control assembly (RCCA) design incorporates two absorber materials. The absorber tip uses silver-indium-cadmium material while the remainder of the absorber material is B4C enriched in 10B. This design increases control rod worth as well as the usable lifetime of RCCA. The Westinghouse constant axial offset control operating strategy, improved RCCA design, modified RCCA overlap, and replacement of part-length RCCA by full-length RCCA are used to improve the axial power distribution control capability for VVER-1000 reactors. These design improvements provide thermal margin benefits, increase shutdown margin by almost 1.0% Ap, reduce fuel cycle costs by nearly 30%, and improve axial power distribution control.