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
Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
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
Mar 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
February 2024
Latest News
Direct waste transfer process quickens at Savannah River Site
The Department of Energy Office of Environmental Management’s liquid waste contractor at the Savannah River Site this month marked the first direct transfer of decontaminated waste from the Salt Waste Processing Facility (SWPF) to the Saltstone Production Facility (SPF). This is a new step in optimizing waste processing, according to the DOE.
Dirk Gombert, John R. Richardson
Nuclear Technology | Volume 141 | Number 3 | March 2003 | Pages 301-308
Technical Note | Radioactive Waste Management and Disposal | doi.org/10.13182/NT03-A3368
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The international process for immobilization of high-activity waste from aqueous fuel reprocessing is vitrification. In the United States joule-heated melter technology has been implemented at West Valley and the Savannah River Site, but improved melter concepts are sought to bring down the costs of processing. The cold-crucible induction melter (CCIM) design is being evaluated for many applications, including radioactive wastes because it eliminates many materials and operating constraints inherent in the baseline technology. The cold-crucible design is also smaller, less expensive, and generates much less waste for ultimate disposal. In addition, it should allow a much more flexible operating envelope, which will be crucial if the heterogeneous wastes at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) reprocessing sites are to be vitrified.A joule-heated melter operates by passing current between water-cooled electrodes through a molten pool in a refractory-lined chamber. This design is inherently limited by susceptibility of materials to corrosion and melting. In addition, redox conditions and free metal content have exacerbated materials problems or lead to electrical short-circuiting causing failures in developmental DOE melters. In contrast, the CCIM design is based on inductive coupling of a water-cooled high-frequency electrical coil with the glass, causing eddy currents that produce heat and mixing.While significant marketing claims have been made by technology suppliers and developers, little data is available for engineering and economic evaluation of the technology, and no facilities are available in the United States to support testing. In addition to verifying the capabilities of the technology, further development can exploit opportunities for optimization through better understanding of the electromagnetic thermal phenomena intrinsic to the cold-crucible melter. Induction frequency, applied power, and coil and crucible configuration are all related but independent variables that can be explored to optimize throughput while designing a system for maximum reliability in a remote environment. This paper is an introduction to the technology as it applies to vitrification of materials not electrically conductive at ambient temperatures, the potential for research improvements, and the new system being built at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory.