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
Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
Meeting Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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
Jun 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2025
Nuclear Technology
July 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Supreme Court rules against Texas in interim storage case
The Supreme Court voted 6–3 against Texas and a group of landowners today in a case involving the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s licensing of a consolidated interim storage facility for spent nuclear fuel, reversing a decision by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to grant the state and landowners Fasken Land and Minerals (Fasken) standing to challenge the license.
John H. Pendergrass
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 13 | Number 2 | February 1988 | Pages 290-332
Technical Paper | Heavy-Ion Fusion | doi.org/10.13182/FST88-A25106
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The requirements, desirable characteristics, trade-offs, and design constraints are discussed for commercial heavy-ion fusion (HIF) reactor plants with induction linear accelerator (Linac) drivers. The trade-offs and the design constraints when the reactor plant requirements and desirable characteristics conflict with those for other HIF power plant systems are described. The reactor plant concepts included in the Heavy-Ion Fusion Systems Assessment (HIFSA) are discussed in relation to these requirements, characteristics, trade-offs, and constraints. Four reactor plant concepts were included in the HIFSA studies to provide large ranges of reactor repetition rate and target yield accommodation (1 to 20 Hz and 150 to 3000 MJ). This permitted thorough exploration of the impact on HIF cost of electricity (COE) of the high repetition rate and efficiency advantages of induction Linacs. Contrary to pre-HIFSA expectations, large plants with large driver repetition rates and multiple reactors are not required for attractive COE: Repetition rates <10 Hz in 1000-MW(electric) one-reactor plants are competitive. More than one HIF reactor plant concept shows promise: The minimum COE estimates for the four concepts in 1000-MW(electric) plants range from 55 to 75 mill/kW-h. Cost and/or technological problems in one part of reactor operating parameter space need not be fatal for HIF: The estimated COE is within 5% of the minimum over wide ranges of the repetition rate and the target yield for a fixed plant size and reactor concept.