ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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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
2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott 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!
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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
High-temperature plumbing and advanced reactors
The use of nuclear fission power and its role in impacting climate change is hotly debated. Fission advocates argue that short-term solutions would involve the rapid deployment of Gen III+ nuclear reactors, like Vogtle-3 and -4, while long-term climate change impact would rely on the creation and implementation of Gen IV reactors, “inherently safe” reactors that use passive laws of physics and chemistry rather than active controls such as valves and pumps to operate safely. While Gen IV reactors vary in many ways, one thing unites nearly all of them: the use of exotic, high-temperature coolants. These fluids, like molten salts and liquid metals, can enable reactor engineers to design much safer nuclear reactors—ultimately because the boiling point of each fluid is extremely high. Fluids that remain liquid over large temperature ranges can provide good heat transfer through many demanding conditions, all with minimal pressurization. Although the most apparent use for these fluids is advanced fission power, they have the potential to be applied to other power generation sources such as fusion, thermal storage, solar, or high-temperature process heat.1–3
Masao Matsuyama, Tadayuki Murai, Kuniaki Watanabe
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 41 | Number 3 | May 2002 | Pages 505-509
Analysis and Monitoring | Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Tritium Science and Technology Tsukuba, Japan November 12-16, 2001 | doi.org/10.13182/FST02-A22640
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
To make a nondestructive measurement of tritium retained on/in materials surfaces, conversion efficiency of β-rays to characteristic X-rays in an argon atmosphere has been examined. For this purpose, various tritium-containing graphite plates were prepared at first by ion implantation. After the tritium implantation, measurements of an X-ray spectrum from the graphite plates were carried out in the argon atmosphere. A good linear relation was observed between the intensity of Ar(Kα) characteristic X-rays and the total amount of tritium deter-mined by full-combustion. The apparent conversion efficiency was determined as 4.15x10−6 counts/s/Bq. To determine the intrinsic conversion efficiency for argon atoms, relevant correction factors such as geometrical efficiency, absorption of X-rays, effects of a tritium depth profile and a photoelectric effect were experimentally evaluated through numerical calculations. Taking into account these correction factors, the intrinsic conversion efficiency was determined to be 3.1x10−4 photons/β-particle.
