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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy
The mission of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy Division (NNPD) is to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology while simultaneously preventing the diversion and misuse of nuclear material and technology through appropriate safeguards and security, and promotion of nuclear nonproliferation policies. To achieve this mission, the objectives of the NNPD are to: Promote policy that discourages the proliferation of nuclear technology and material to inappropriate entities. Provide information to ANS members, the technical community at large, opinion leaders, and decision makers to improve their understanding of nuclear nonproliferation issues. Become a recognized technical resource on nuclear nonproliferation, safeguards, and security issues. Serve as the integration and coordination body for nuclear nonproliferation activities for the ANS. Work cooperatively with other ANS divisions to achieve these objective nonproliferation policies.
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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Latest News
Smarter waste strategies: Helping deliver on the promise of advanced nuclear
At COP28, held in Dubai in 2023, a clear consensus emerged: Nuclear energy must be a cornerstone of the global clean energy transition. With electricity demand projected to soar as we decarbonize not just power but also industry, transport, and heat, the case for new nuclear is compelling. More than 20 countries committed to tripling global nuclear capacity by 2050. In the United States alone, the Department of Energy forecasts that the country’s current nuclear capacity could more than triple, adding 200 GW of new nuclear to the existing 95 GW by mid-century.
Steve Fetter
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 11 | Number 2 | March 1987 | Pages 400-415
Technical Paper | Safety/Enviromental Aspect | doi.org/10.13182/FST87-A25016
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The hope that fusion reactors will have fewer radiological hazards than competing fission technologies is an important rationale for fusion research. Estimates of the radiological hazard due to reactor accidents, occupational exposures, and waste disposal of reference fusion and fission designs; the Mirror Advanced Reactor Study (MARS); and a liquid-metal fast breeder reactor (LMFBR) indicate that fusion may enjoy substantial quantitative advantages over fission but that such advantages are neither sure to be achieved nor necessarily sufficient for fusion to be perceived as qualitatively superior to fission. The possibility of achieving maximum reductions of hazard is explored by analyzing the effects of relatively minor modifications of the MARS design, using completely different structural or breeder/coolant materials, and changing the fusion fuel cycle. Minor modifications, such as elemental tailoring of structural and coolant materials, result in reductions of one to two orders of magnitude in each class of hazard. Using different reactor materials, such as vanadium alloy or high-purity silicon carbide blanket structure, can result in even greater reductions. Other combinations, such as a molybdenum alloy structure cooled by liquid lithium, can be as hazardous as an LMFBR. Using the only other promising fuel cycle, catalyzed deuterium-deuterium, accident hazards can be reduced one to two orders of magnitude and waste disposal hazards by a factor of 4.