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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
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!
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May 2024
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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|Methods
Monday, April 22, 2024|1:30–3:15PM PDT|Continental Ballroom 1
Session Chair:
Kazuya Yamaji (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries)
Alternate Chair:
Rodolfo M. Ferrer (Studsvik Scandpower)
Session Organizer:
Go Chiba (Hokkaido University)
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Preliminary Validation of Intra-Pin Reaction Rate Predictions from the Deterministic Transport Codes GeN-Foam and MPACT
1:30–1:50PM PDT
Tom Mager (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), Kyle Vaughn (Univ. Michigan), Mathieu Hursin (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), Brendan Kochunas (Univ. Michigan), Andreas Pautz (Paul Scherrer Institute)
Paper
Initial Benchmarking of a New ENDF/B-VIII.1.β2-Based CASMO5 Neutron Data Library
1:50–2:10PM PDT
Rodolfo Ferrer (Studsvik Scandpower), Charles Wemple (Studsvik Scandpower), Joshua Hykes (Studsvik Scandpower)
Verification and Validation of the VANGARD Pinwise Nodal Code with Preliminary Analyses of BEAVRS Benchmark
2:10–2:30PM PDT
Seoyoon Jeon (Seoul Nat'l Univ.), Brendan Kochunas (Univ. Michigan)
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