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Division Spotlight
Young Members Group
The Young Members Group works to encourage and enable all young professional members to be actively involved in the efforts and endeavors of the Society at all levels (Professional Divisions, ANS Governance, Local Sections, etc.) as they transition from the role of a student to the role of a professional. It sponsors non-technical workshops and meetings that provide professional development and networking opportunities for young professionals, collaborates with other Divisions and Groups in developing technical and non-technical content for topical and national meetings, encourages its members to participate in the activities of the Groups and Divisions that are closely related to their professional interests as well as in their local sections, introduces young members to the rules and governance structure of the Society, and nominates young professionals for awards and leadership opportunities available to members.
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!
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June 2024
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Latest News
Proving DRACO will deliver
The United States is now closer than it has been in over five decades to launching the first nuclear thermal rocket into space, thanks to DRACO—the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Orbit.
Taraknath Woddi, Kenneth N. Ricci
Nuclear Technology | Volume 184 | Number 2 | November 2013 | Pages 156-168
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT13-22
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A parametric study was performed on the thorium-to-233U breeder fuel cycle for pressurized heavy water reactors (PHWRs) similar to the existing CANDU type. The objective was to estimate the sensitivity of the thorium breeder PHWR energy cost to fuel reprocessing costs, reactor capital costs, fuel specific power, fuel-to-moderator ratio, and reactor size and to find optimal parameters to minimize the energy cost for reasonable economic assumptions. A baseline model thorium heavy water breeder reactor (THWBR) was developed from these parameters to show how an existing PHWR would perform economically if fueled only with thorium and the 233U bred and reprocessed from that thorium. This study found that the baseline model THWBR is not cost competitive with the current PHWR fuel cycle using natural uranium but may be significantly closer in cost to the natural uranium fuel cycle than models discussed in previous publications. Because the proposed thorium reactor can, with the assistance of some thorium fuel reprocessing, achieve a higher average fuel burnup than the once-through natural uranium cycle, the waste management costs will be lower while the reprocessing costs will be higher than the natural uranium fuel system. When the strategic and proliferation-resistance values are included, the thorium breeder PHWR may be competitive with natural uranium PHWRs and light water reactors in some markets. The next phase of our study is expected to show how to use novel combinations of unconventional PHWR core geometries to increase the breeding ratio and fuel burnup, decrease the reprocessing requirements, and make a thermal breeder reactor more economical.