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
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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
June 2024
Nuclear Technology
May 2024
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Commercial nuclear innovation "new space" age
In early 2006, a start-up company launched a small rocket from a tiny island in the Pacific. It exploded, showering the island with debris. A year later, a second launch attempt sent a rocket to space but failed to make orbit, burning up in the atmosphere. Another year brought a third attempt—and a third failure. The following month, in September 2008, the company used the last of its funds to launch a fourth rocket. It reached orbit, making history as the first privately funded liquid-fueled rocket to do so.
N. A. Antipa, S. H. Baxamusa, E. S. Buice, A. D. Conder, M. N. Emerich, M. S. Flegel, C. L. Heinbockel, J. B. Horner, J. E. Fair, L. M. Kegelmeyer, E. S. Koh, M. A. Johnson, W. L. Maranville, J. S. Meyer, R. Montesanti, J. Nguyen, J. E. Ralph, J. L. Reynolds, J. G. Senecal
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 63 | Number 2 | March-April 2013 | Pages 151-159
Technical Paper | Selected papers from 20th Target Fabrication Meeting, May 20-24, 2012, Santa Fe, NM, Guest Editor: Robert C. Cook | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-TFM20-38
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Capsule ablators are precision hollow spheres used in inertial confinement fusion targets used in high-peak-power laser systems such as the National Ignition Facility. These capsules have high surface-quality requirements, and hence a full surface microscopic mapping system has been developed to characterize them. The capsule-fill-tube-assembly mapping system combines a confocal surface-profiling microscope with a nine-axis, high-precision stage system to provide quantitative three-dimensional data over the entire surface of each capsule prior to assembly into the final target. The system measures the individual volumes of features on the capsule surface that are 7.5 m3 and larger with an accuracy of ±10%. The positional accuracy is better than 0.25 deg (1), or [approximately]5 m linearly. The data acquisition and image processing are all highly automated in order to keep pace with throughput demands. The system consists of four primary subsystems: the positioning system, the confocal microscope, the automated acquisition code, and the image processing and data management software.