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Division Spotlight
Decommissioning & Environmental Sciences
The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
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|Fuel Cycle and Other Applications
Tuesday, April 23, 2024|1:30–3:15PM PDT|Continental Ballroom 1
Session Chair:
Satoshi Gunji (Japan Atomic Energy Agency)
Alternate Chair:
Donny Hartanto (ORNL)
Session Organizer:
Go Chiba (Hokkaido University)
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SCALE 6.3.1 Radiation Source Terms and Shielding Analysis for a Postulated Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor Accident Scenario
1:30–1:50PM PDT
G. Radulescu (ORNL), D. Hartanto (ORNL), F. Bostelmann (ORNL), W. Wieselquist (ORNL)
Paper
An Open Source Multiphysics Workflow for the Analysis of Fusion Driven Systems
1:50–2:10PM PDT
Matthew J. Nyberg (Univ. Wisconsin, Madison), Joseph T. Eickman (Univ. Wisconsin, Madison), Patrick C. Shriwise (ANL), Ben A. Lindley (Univ. Wisconsin, Madison)
Theory of Neutron Multiplicity Counting in an Energy-Dependent Transport Model
2:10–2:30PM PDT
Victor Dykin (Chalmers Univ. Technology), Senada Avdic (Univ. Tuzla), Imre Pázsit (Chalmers Univ. Technology)
Presented by Paolo Vinai (Chalmers Univ. Technology)
Development of a Steady State Reactor Physics Surrogate Model for the Idaho State University AGN-201 Digital Twin Using MOOSE
2:30–2:50PM PDT
Quinton J. Williams (Oregon State), Ryan H. Stewart (INL), Todd S. Palmer (Oregon State), Camille J. Palmer (Oregon State), Chad Pope (Idaho State), Ashley Shields (INL), Christopher Ritter (INL)
Sub-Pin Fission Product Sensitivity to Assembly and Core Models on High-Burnup Fuel and Comparison to Experimental Measurements
2:50–3:10PM PDT
Andrew Conant (ORNL), Mehdi Asgari (ORNL), Aaron Graham (ORNL), Greg Balco (LLNL)
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