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
Apr 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
College students help develop waste-measuring device at Hanford
A partnership between Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) and Washington State University has resulted in the development of a device to measure radioactive and chemical tank waste at the Hanford Site. WRPS is the contractor at Hanford for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management.
R. Puspalata, S. Sumathi, V. Balaji, S. Rangarajan, S. Velmurugan
Nuclear Technology | Volume 205 | Number 4 | April 2019 | Pages 592-604
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1509586
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The main objective of this work is to see the feasibility of using an electrochemical ion-exchange process in line with decontamination for removal of radioactive metal ions from simulated decontaminated solution/metal ion–loaded cation-exchange resin. This could extend the service period of resin, and the volume of radioactive resin (organic) waste generation could be minimized. Simulated decontamination solutions/spent resins were used in the middle section of a three-compartment cell separated by cation-permeable Nafion membranes. Metal ions from this central compartment permeated through the membrane and got deposited on the cathode by application of potential. Process parameters like applied voltage, interelectrode distance, pH, decontamination formulations, and type of membrane were optimized for efficient transport of metal ions. The resin life was observed to be extended by 5 h by an electrochemical regeneration process with Nafion membrane N115. The transport process, as monitored by the change in metal ion concentration in the cathodic compartment, was observed to pass through a maximum. Maximum metal ion removal was observed with formic acid/formate formulation indicating that the presence of acidity in the anodic compartment has a synergistic effect on the transport process. The cathodic compartment deposit was characterized by X-ray diffraction, laser Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive X-ray analysis.