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
Mathematics & Computation
Division members promote the advancement of mathematical and computational methods for solving problems arising in all disciplines encompassed by the Society. They place particular emphasis on numerical techniques for efficient computer applications to aid in the dissemination, integration, and proper use of computer codes, including preparation of computational benchmark and development of standards for computing practices, and to encourage the development on new computer codes and broaden their use.
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
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.
J. P. Schapira, R. K. Singhal
Nuclear Technology | Volume 128 | Number 1 | October 1999 | Pages 25-34
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT99-A3011
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Among the natural thorium resources, monazite and the residues of rare-earth extraction will very likely be exploited first in case of a significant use of thorium-based nuclear fuels. The different waste streams have been identified from the present industrial practices used in the production of nuclear grade thorium from monazite extracted from beach sands. The radionuclides of utmost importance in various waste streams are 232Th, 228Ra, and 220Rn from the thorium series and 238U, 230Th, 226Ra, and 222Rn from the uranium series. There are three important steps, where the major radioactivity is generated. It is found that the total amount of solid wastes generated for the production of 1 t of thorium metal is ~10 t, which is ~50 times less than in the case of 1 t of uranium production. Among them, long-lived wastes represent a small volume and could be disposed of in a deep geological repository, as for alpha-active reprocessing wastes. The raw materials at the mining site are lower by one to two orders of magnitude in the general case of high-grade thorium ore in comparison to the present commercially exploited uranium ore. The short- and long-term impact of these wastes on the environment and radiotoxicity has been calculated. It has been found that the short- and long-term impact for the public is about two orders of magnitude lower than for the equivalent front-end uranium cycles. On the contrary, inhalation and ingestion dose commitments for an adult are about five and two times higher, respectively, in the case of pure thorium as compared to the equivalent uranium case.