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
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
June 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Zaporizhzhia ‘extremely fragile’ relying on single off-site power line, IAEA warns
Europe’s largest nuclear power plant has just one remaining power line for essential nuclear safety and security functions, compared with its original 10 functional lines before the military conflict with Russia, warned Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Kathryn A. McCarthy, David A. Petti, Hesham Y. Khater
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 39 | Number 2 | March 2001 | Pages 951-955
Safety and Environment | doi.org/10.13182/FST01-A11963363
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
High temperature refractory alloys of tungsten, molybdenum and tantalum are under evaluation for use as structural materials in the Advanced Power Extraction Program (APEX) because of their ability to accommodate high wall loading and high temperature coolant. However, such materials tend to have undesirable safety and environmental characteristics relative to conventional reduced-activation fusion materials. These alloys have high decay heat and in some cases their activation results in the production of long-lived isotopes that would disqualify the material from being disposed of as low level waste. In addition, some of the alloys have oxides that are very volatile, which could be mobilized in accident scenarios in which air ingress is a concern. In this paper we compare the safety and environmental characteristics of these alloys with their low activation cousin (vanadium) in terms of decay heat, oxidation driven mobilization in air, and waste management.