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
Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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
Apr 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Glass strategy: Hanford’s enhanced waste glass program
The mission of the Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection (ORP) is to complete the safe cleanup of waste resulting from decades of nuclear weapons development. One of the most technologically challenging responsibilities is the safe disposition of approximately 56 million gallons of radioactive waste historically stored in 177 tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
ORP has a clear incentive to reduce the overall mission duration and cost. One pathway is to develop and deploy innovative technical solutions that can advance baseline flow sheets toward higher efficiency operations while reducing identified risks without compromising safety. Vitrification is the baseline process that will convert both high-level and low-level radioactive waste at Hanford into a stable glass waste form for long-term storage and disposal.
Although vitrification is a mature technology, there are key areas where technology can further reduce operational risks, advance baseline processes to maximize waste throughput, and provide the underpinning to enhance operational flexibility; all steps in reducing mission duration and cost.
Roger Raman
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 50 | Number 1 | July 2006 | Pages 84-88
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST06-A1223
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Steady-state advanced tokamak (AT) scenarios rely on optimized density and pressure profiles to maximize the bootstrap current fraction. Under this mode of operation, the fueling system must deposit small amounts of fuel where it is needed and as often as needed, so as to compensate for fuel losses, but not to adversely alter the established density and pressure profiles. Conventional fueling methods have not demonstrated successful fueling of AT-type discharges and may be incapable of deep fueling long-pulse edge-localized-mode-free discharges in ITER. The capability to deposit fuel at any desired radial location within the tokamak would provide burn control capability through alteration of the density profile. The ability to peak the density profile would ease ignition requirements, while operating ITER with density profiles that are peaked would increase the fusion power output. An advanced fueling system should also be capable of fueling well past internal transport barriers. Compact toroid (CT) fueling has the potential to meet these needs, while simultaneously providing a source of toroidal momentum input. Experimental data needed for the design of a CT fueler for ITER could be obtained on NSTX using an existing CT injector.