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
Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2025
Latest News
ANS designates Armour Research Foundation Reactor as Nuclear Historic Landmark
The American Nuclear Society presented the Illinois Institute of Technology with a plaque last week to officially designate the Armour Research Foundation Reactor a Nuclear Historic Landmark, following the Society’s decision to confer the status onto the reactor in September 2024.
Y. K. M. Peng et al.
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 60 | Number 2 | August 2011 | Pages 441-448
Power Plant, Demo, and FNSF | Proceedings of the Nineteenth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (TOFE) (Part 2) | doi.org/10.13182/FST60-441
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The compact (R0~1.2-1.3m) Fusion Nuclear Science Facility (FNSF) is aimed at providing a fully integrated, continuously driven fusion nuclear environment of copious fusion neutrons. This facility would be used to test, discover, and understand the complex challenges of fusion plasma material interactions, nuclear material interactions, tritium fuel management, and power extraction. Such a facility properly designed would provide, initially at the JET-level plasma pressure (~30%T2) and conditions (e.g., Hot-Ion H-Mode, Q<1)), an outboard fusion neutron flux of 0.25 MW/m2 while requiring a fusion power of ~19 MW. If and when this research is successful, its performance can be extended to 1 MW/m2 and ~76 MW by reaching for twice the JET plasma pressure and Q. High-safety factor q and moderate-plasmas are used to minimize or eliminate plasma-induced disruptions, to deliver reliably a neutron fluence of 1 MW-yr/m2 and a duty factor of 10% presently anticipated for the FNS research. Success of this research will depend on achieving time-efficient installation and replacement of all internal components using remote handling (RH). This in turn requires modular designs for the internal components, including the single-turn toroidal field coil center-post. These device goals would further dictate placement of support structures and vacuum weld seals behind the internal and shielding components. If these goals could be achieved, the FNSF would further provide a ready upgrade path to the Component Test Facility (CTF), which would aim to test, for 6 MW-yr/m2 and 30% duty cycle, the demanding fusion nuclear engineering and technologies for DEMO. This FNSF-CTF would thereby complement the ITER Program, and support and help mitigate the risks of an aggressive world fusion DEMO R&D Program. The key physics and technology research needed in the next decade to manage the potential risks of this FNSF are identified.