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
Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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
2024 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP) SPeaker
R&D Fellow
Dow
Scott J. Bury is an R&D Fellow in Dow's Core R&D organization. Scott started his 32-year and counting Dow adventure at the Plaquemine, Louisiana site in the Environmental Research Group. After a few years, he became the first member of the new Process Optimization R&D group. Over the past two decades, he has helped to grow and shape the group, now called Machine Learning, Optimization, and Statistics(MiLOS), through technology development, value delivery and recruiting talented young researchers. His research portfolio includes operations research, process modeling, operational reliability, product design for reliability, and discrete manufacturing modeling. His current focus is mentoring all the new members of the MiLOS team and working with Dow's Energy and Climate Business to explore nuclear power for decarbonization. He participates in several external technology programs and National Lab collaborations and is active in Dow's University Research Program.
Education
B.S. Biology/Biotechnology WPI
PhD Chemical Engineering, Rice University, Clarence A. Miller, advisor
Last modified May 9, 2024, 8:46am PDT