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
Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
Meeting Spotlight
2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott Downtown
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 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
July 2025
Nuclear Technology
June 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
High-temperature plumbing and advanced reactors
The use of nuclear fission power and its role in impacting climate change is hotly debated. Fission advocates argue that short-term solutions would involve the rapid deployment of Gen III+ nuclear reactors, like Vogtle-3 and -4, while long-term climate change impact would rely on the creation and implementation of Gen IV reactors, “inherently safe” reactors that use passive laws of physics and chemistry rather than active controls such as valves and pumps to operate safely. While Gen IV reactors vary in many ways, one thing unites nearly all of them: the use of exotic, high-temperature coolants. These fluids, like molten salts and liquid metals, can enable reactor engineers to design much safer nuclear reactors—ultimately because the boiling point of each fluid is extremely high. Fluids that remain liquid over large temperature ranges can provide good heat transfer through many demanding conditions, all with minimal pressurization. Although the most apparent use for these fluids is advanced fission power, they have the potential to be applied to other power generation sources such as fusion, thermal storage, solar, or high-temperature process heat.1–3
Advanced Reactor Safety (ARS) SPeaker
Ana has been working in nuclear safety for 39 years. From 1995 to 2000, she worked at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) where she was responsible for activities on probabilistic safety assessment, safety performance indicators and safety related maintenance for nuclear power plants.
Ana joined the UK Office for Nuclear Regulation in 2000 where she was Head of Advanced Nuclear Technologies (2016 – 2020) and Head of HPR1000 Regulation (2016 – 2022). She led the Generic Design Assessment (GDA) of the UK HPR1000 reactor, a large project that concluded in January 2022 with the issuing of a Design Acceptance Confirmation for the UK HPR1000.
In May 2022 Ana joined IAEA as Head of the Safety Assessment Section (SAS). SAS is one of the five sections within the Division of Nuclear Installation Safety (NSNI) in the IAEA Department of Nuclear Safety and Security. As Head of SAS Ana leads a team of 20 staff to deliver the needs of the IAEA Member States in the areas of ‘design safety’ and ‘safety assessment methods and tools’ covering existing, evolutionary and innovative reactors, including small modular reactors, non-water-cooled reactors, transportable nuclear power plants, and fusion facilities.
Last modified March 20, 2024, 10:18am PDT
