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
Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
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.
Jeremy Bittan
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 194 | Number 8 | August-September 2020 | Pages 771-781
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2020.1743576
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
During a loss-of-coolant-accident (LOCA) transient in a pressurized water reactor (PWR), water from the primary circuit is lost at the break. PWR designs are equipped with safety systems (SS) such as safety injection or accumulators to inject water into the primary circuit and prevent the core from being degraded. Depending on the size, position, and orientation of the break, a part of the safety system injection (SSI) into the primary circuit will be lost at the break. This parameter has a significant influence on the time the core uncovers in case the SS are lost. MAAP5.04 enables users to define the part of SSI that is lost at the break. Apart from a double-ended–break LOCA transient, users struggle to define precisely the part of SSI lost at the break, but this choice can have an important impact on the transient key event times. Thanks to its detailed equations and nodalization, the reference Code for Analysis of Thermal Hydraulics during an Accident of Reactor and safety Evaluation (CATHARE) enables one to evaluate the part of SSI lost at the break. Numerous CATHARE calculations have been performed taking into account different break sizes, positions, and orientations to determine the part of SSI lost at the break in each case. A metamodel has been created from the constituted database and implemented in EDF MAAP5.04. This paper also presents the impact of these improvements on LOCA transients where SS are lost.