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
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
How robust is HALEU from a nonproliferation perspective?
Shikha Prasad
High-assay low-enriched uranium (HALEU) has emerged as a popular fuel choice for advanced small modular reactors due to its long power production periods before refueling. It is currently being pursued by TerraPower, X-energy, BWX Technologies, Kairos, Oklo, and other reactor companies. HALEU has a uranium-235 enrichment ranging from 5 percent to 20 percent, whereas traditional LWRs use low-enriched uranium fuel enriched up to 5 percent.
HALEU will provide power for longer durations, compared with traditional LWRs. But could it also provide an opportunity for more rapid proliferation, as is speculated in a 2023 National Academy of Sciences report on advanced nuclear reactors (nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/26630/)?
If a nuclear proliferator conspires to divert fresh nuclear fuel for weapons production when it has not been used in a reactor, the effort required in separative work units (SWUs) to enrich U-235 from 5 percent to 90 percent and that required to enrich from 20 percent to 90 percent are both very small, compared with the effort required to enrich U-235 from its natural abundance to the initial 5 percent.
Technical Session|Reactor Design and Analysis
Tuesday, April 23, 2024|10:15AM–12:00PM PDT|Franciscan A
Session Chair:
Emily R. Shemon
Alternate Chair:
Nicolas E. Stauff
Session Organizer:
Eva E. Davidson
To access paper attachments, you must be logged in and registered for the meeting.
Register NowLog In
Coupled Simulation of the Sodium Cooled Fast Reactor BN-800 with the GRS System ATHLET-PARCS
10:15–10:35AM PDT
J. Bousquet (GRS), Y. Perin (GRS), R. Henry (GRS)
Paper
Breakeven Feasibility Study of Chlorine-Based MSFR with Discontinuous and Continuous Fuel Processes
10:35–10:55AM PDT
Eunhyug Lee (KAIST), Taesuk Oh (KAIST), Yonghee Kim (KAIST)
New Design Core Options of Micro-Modular Lead Cooled Fast Reactors (MMLFR) for Facilitating Natural Circulation
10:55–11:15AM PDT
Seungnam Lee (Hanyang Univ.), Ser Gi Hong (Hanyang Univ.)
Neutronic Benchmark on the Westinghouse Lead Fast Reactor
11:15–11:35AM PDT
Nicolas E. Stauff (ANL), Ahmed Abdelhameed (ANL), Alex Levinsky (Westinghouse Electric Co.), Fausto Franceschini (Westinghouse Electric Co.)
Neutronic Analysis of MOX-1000MWth Fast Reactor by Two-Step System Code MCS/RAST-F
11:35–11:55AM PDT
Saisundar Mohanty (Ulsan Nat'l Institute Science and Technology), Tran Quoc Tuan (Ulsan Nat'l Institute Science and Technology), Fathurrahman Setiawan (Ulsan Nat'l Institute Science and Technology), Murat Serdar Aygul (Ulsan Nat'l Institute Science and Technology), DeokJung Lee (Ulsan Nat'l Institute Science and Technology)
To join the conversation, you must be logged in and registered for the meeting.
