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
Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Jun 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
July 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
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.
Richard V Carlson, Kenji Okuno
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 30 | Number 3 | December 1996 | Pages 900-904
Fuel Cycle and Tritium Technology | doi.org/10.13182/FST96-A11963052
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Tritium Systems Test Assembly (TSTA) at Los Alamos National Laboratory is a facility designed to develop and demonstrate, in full scale, selected tritium systems necessary for safe and efficient operation of fusion reactors. TSTA currently consists of systems for pumping DT fuel mixtures; for removing gaseous impurities from DT gas streams; for separating the isotopes of hydrogen; for storage of hydrogen isotopes; for gas analysis; for studying materials interaction with a tritium plasma; for fueling a reactor with solid DT pellets; and for assuring safety by the necessary control, monitoring, and detritiation of effluent gaseous streams. TSTA also has several smaller scale experiments to develop and test new equipment and processes necessary for fusion reactors. These include laser Raman studies, development of a self assaying tritium storage bed, and tritium compatibility tests for valves and materials. After completion of the experiments on the JAERI Fuel Cleanup system, the system has been decontaminated and disposed (D&D) of as waste. This was accomplished with no increases in stack tritium emissions and personnel exposures. A new tritium plasma experiment and pellet injector has been added to TSTA.
Tritium was introduced into TSTA in June 1984. The current tritium inventory is approximately 130 grams. Approximately 5×109 curies of tritium have been processed in closed loop operation at TSTA. Total tritium releases from the facility stack have been less than 346 Curies during the entire operating history. The goal of TSTA has been to maintain annual stack releases to less than 200 Ci. Total operating personnel exposures (for approximately 20 workers) are less than 1 person-rem. Exposures to the general public from TSTA tritium releases are extremely small (less than 10-2 mrem.).
An important aspect of compliance with these requirements is the management program developed to support TSTA operations. These include: quality assurance, training, maintenance, radiation protection, safety documentation such as safety analysis reports, document and procedure control, EPA stack monitoring compliance, conduct of operations, emergency preparedness, and waste management.
