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.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Aug 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
October 2026
Nuclear Technology
September 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2026
Latest News
Center for Used Fuel Research: Building confidence in storage and transport
Used nuclear fuel storage and transportation have reached a critical juncture.
Dozens of utilities need reliable data on how used nuclear fuel performs in dry storage casks and canisters to extend regulatory licenses at sites across the United States. Likewise, the Department of Energy expects to take ownership of the used nuclear fuel—termed “spent nuclear fuel” in the laws and regulations governing its stewardship—and transfer it to one or more federal staging facilities for management and disposition.
Meanwhile, dozens of reactor companies are testing prototypes of advanced reactors and advanced reactor fuels. Eventually, regulators and industry must also verify the safety and security of storage methods for these advanced fuel types.
To help address these challenges, the DOE established the Center for Used Fuel Research (CUFR) in January 2026 for work related to the long-term storage and transport of used nuclear fuel.
K. Ohkubo, S. Kubo, T. Shimozuma, Y. Yoshimura, H. Igami, S. Kobayashi
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 62 | Number 3 | November 2012 | Pages 389-402
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST12-A15338
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In the system of electron cyclotron heating, highly overmoded, corrugated circular waveguides are used. To analyze propagating mode content in the waveguide, burn patterns of the thermal paper placed on the waveguide aperture are observed at several positions. Theoretical burn patterns are obtained by taking into account a nonlinear grayscale response of the thermal paper to the calculated power profiles. We have developed a new method of mode analysis by nonlinear optimization, which is based on an iterative error reduction of differences between observed and theoretical patterns. To examine the status of polarization, the transformation between hybrid modes and linearly polarized (LP) modes is derived. The method is applied to the 82.7-GHz transmission line connected with the gyrotron. The propagating wave is linear polarized and consists of [approximately]4% of the LP11 odd mode, [approximately]95% of the LP01 mode, and [approximately]1% of other modes. The calculated burn pattern is similar to the observed one, like a plateau. By using both center of power and weighted averages of the perpendicular wavenumber in these profiles, offset and tilting angles of an injecting electromagnetic beam to the waveguide entrance are inferred. These are verified to be consistent with the results by the coupling code of a Gaussian beam with hybrid modes.
