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
Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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
June 2024
Nuclear Technology
May 2024
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Commercial nuclear innovation "new space" age
In early 2006, a start-up company launched a small rocket from a tiny island in the Pacific. It exploded, showering the island with debris. A year later, a second launch attempt sent a rocket to space but failed to make orbit, burning up in the atmosphere. Another year brought a third attempt—and a third failure. The following month, in September 2008, the company used the last of its funds to launch a fourth rocket. It reached orbit, making history as the first privately funded liquid-fueled rocket to do so.
W. M. Stacey, Z. Abbasi, C. J. Boyd, A. H. Bridges, E. A. Burgett, M. W. Cymbor, S. W. Fowler, A. T. Jones, R. S. Kelm, B. J. Kern, D. B. Lassiter, J. A. Maddox, W. B. Murphy, H. Park, J. M. Pounders, J. R. Preston
Nuclear Technology | Volume 156 | Number 1 | October 2006 | Pages 99-123
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste Management and Disposal | doi.org/10.13182/NT06-A3777
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A design concept and supporting analysis are presented for a He-cooled fast reactor for the transmutation of spent nuclear fuel. Coated transuranic (TRU) fuel particles in a SiC matrix are used. The reactor operates subcritical (k 0.95), with a tokamak D-T fusion neutron source, to achieve >90% TRU burnup in repeated five-batch fuel cycles, fissions 1.1 tonnes/full-power year, and produces 700 MW(electric) net electrical power. The reactor design is based on nuclear, fuels, materials, and separations technologies being developed in the Generation-IV, Next Generation Nuclear Plant, and Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative programs and similar international programs, and the fusion neutron source is based on the physics and technology supporting the ITER design.