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Decommissioning & Environmental Sciences
The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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!
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DOE-NE leadership discuss nuclear in the FY 2025 budget request
Members of the Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy leadership team detailed the DOE's fiscal year 2025 Congressional budget request in a webinar hosted last week by the American Nuclear Society. The DOE’s FY 2025 budget request includes nearly $1.6 billion for the Office of Nuclear Energy. The webinar was sponsored by Paragon Energy Solutions; ANS members can view the recording online.
Florent Heidet, Ehud Greenspan
Nuclear Technology | Volume 181 | Number 2 | February 2013 | Pages 251-273
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors/Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT13-A15782
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A preliminary feasibility study is performed for a sodium-cooled breed-and-burn (B&B) fast reactor core for achieving high uranium utilization without solid fission product separation that could fit within a reactor vessel of the dimensions of SuperPRISM (S-PRISM). This 1000-MW(thermal) B&B core is to be fueled with depleted uranium with the exception of the fissile loading required for achieving initial criticality. When the fuel reaches its radiation damage limit, it is reconditioned using the melt-refining process and reloaded into the core until it runs out of reactivity.It is found that the maximum burnup at which the S-PRISM-sized B&B core can be designed to discharge its fuel is 43% fissions per initial metal atom. The corresponding uranium utilization is nearly 90 times higher than that of a light water reactor. The achievable burnup strongly depends on the fuel volume fraction but is almost insensitive to the core power density, fuel-reconditioning frequency, and duration of the fuel-reconditioning process.