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
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
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.
G. M. Fuller, J. R. Haines, V. D. Lee, F. W. Wiffen, Y. Gohar
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 4 | Number 2 | September 1983 | Pages 1095-1100
Blanket and First Wall Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST83-A23004
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The first wall of the tokamak FED-A device was designed to satisfy two conflicting requirements. They are a low electrical resistance to give a long eddy-current decay time and a high neutron transparency to give a favorable tritium breeding ratio. The tradeoff between these conflicting requirements resulted in a copper alloy first wall that satisfied the specific goals for FED-A, i.e., a minimum eddy-current decay time of 0.5 sec and a tritium breeding ratio of at least 1.2. Aluminum alloys come close to meeting the requirements and would also probably work. Stainless steel will not work in this application because shells thin enough to satisfy temperature and stress limits are not thick enough to give a long eddy-current decay time and to avoid disruption induced melting. The baseline first wall design is a rib-stiffened, double-wall construction. The total wall thickness is 1.5 em, including a water coolant thickness of 0.5 em. The first wall is divided into twelve 30-degree sectors. Flange rings at the ends of each sector are bolted together to form the torus. Structural support is provided at the top center of each sector.