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Division Spotlight
Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
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
Jan 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
Wednesday, April 24, 2024|10:15AM–12:00PM PDT|Continental Ballroom 1
Session Chair:
Tomoaki Watanabe (Japan Atomic Energy Agency)
Alternate Chair:
Anselmo T. Cisneros (TerraPower)
Session Organizer:
Go Chiba (Hokkaido University)
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Validation of ENDF/B-VIII.0 Cross-Section Library for METAL-FAST Graphite Systems
10:15–10:35AM PDT
Paul Vollrath (Georgia Tech), Farzad Rahnema (Georgia Tech), Alex Shaw (ORNL)
Paper
Investigation of the Impact of TSL Data Libraries and Geometry Variations on the MSRE Benchmark
10:35–10:55AM PDT
Aidana Bauyrzhan (NCSU), Ayman I. Hawari (NCSU)
Assessing Criticality Implications of Small Angle Neutron Scattering and Porosity Misrepresentation in ENDF/B-VIII.1 TSLs for Nuclear Graphite
10:55–11:15AM PDT
Kemal Ramic (ORNL), Iyad Al-Qasir (ORNL), Friederike Bostelmann (ORNL), Chris W. Chapman (ORNL), Anne Campbell (ORNL), Kyle Grammer (ORNL), Zain Karriem (ORNL), Jose Ignacio Marquez Damian (European Spallation Source), Mark Baird (ORNL), Dorothea Wiarda (ORNL), Luke Daemen (ORNL), Eric Novak (ORNL), Jesse Brown (ORNL), Goran Arbanas (ORNL), Luiz Leal (ORNL), Germina Ilas (ORNL), William A. Wieselquist (ORNL)
Comparison of Coarse Energy Group Structures for Graphite Moderated Molten Salt Reactors and Molten Salt Reactor Experiment Modeling
11:15–11:35AM PDT
J. Faulkner (Georgia Tech), B. Petrovic (Georgia Tech)
Reactivity Impact of Updated 35Cl Nuclear Data on the Molten Chloride Reactor Experiment
11:35–11:55AM PDT
T. Cisneros (TerraPower), M. Wargon (TerraPower), K. Hanselman (LANL), T. Kawano (LANL), S.A. Kuvin (LANL), H.Y. Lee (LANL)
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