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.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Jun 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
July 2026
Nuclear Technology
June 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2026
Latest News
Antares achieves zero-power criticality at INL
Leveraging more than $140 million in private capital fundraising, over 322,000 square feet of operational manufacturing space, and multifaceted partnerships with the Departments of Energy and Defense, reactor start-up Antares has become the first company involved in the Reactor Pilot Program to achieve zero-power fueled criticality—a full month ahead of the July 4 deadline set by President Trump’s Executive Order 14301.
This milestone, announced yesterday, was achieved with the company’s Mark-0: a sodium heat-pipe-cooled, TRISO-fueled microreactor. The Mark-0 is a forerunner to the company’s flagship design, which it calls the R1. For Antares, this development represents a key validation of its reactor physics, control systems, and supply chain.
L. El-Guebaly, S. Malang, A. Rowcliffe, L. Waganer
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 68 | Number 2 | September 2015 | Pages 251-258
Technical Paper | Proceedings of TOFE-2014 | doi.org/10.13182/FST15-124
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In the U.S., the Fusion Nuclear Science Facility (FNSF) is viewed as an essential element of the fusion developmental roadmap. The tritium self-sufficiency, blanket testing, and materials testing are of particular interest since they define a critical element of the FNSF mission. There is a definitive need to breed the majority of, if not all, the tritium required for operation. A staged blanket testing strategy has been developed to test and enhance the blanket performance during each phase of operation. A materials testing module is critically important to include in FNSF to test large specimens of future generations of materials (for blanket, divertor, magnets, etc.) in relevant fusion environment. In this strategy, the test modules play a pivotal role and serve as “forerunners” for more advanced versions of blanket and materials that will validate their characteristics and features to assure the successful operation of DEMO and advanced power plants.