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
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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
Apr 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
DOE issues final RFQ for WIPP clean energy initiative
The Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management has issued a request for qualifications for interested parties and prospective offerors looking to enter into a realty agreement for carbon-pollution-free electricity (CFE) projects at the department’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant site in southeastern New Mexico.
M. Sharpe, C. Fagan, W. T. Shmayda
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 75 | Number 8 | November 2019 | Pages 1053-1057
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2019.1644136
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The distribution of tritium in the near surface of Type 316 stainless steel has been measured using a combination of a zinc chloride (ZnCl2) wash and acid etching with diluted aqua regia. This method improves upon etching measurements reported in the literature: Results show depth resolutions of ~10 nm using the diluted aqua regia. The ZnCl2 wash results show very high surface concentration (~1.5 × 1013 Bq/cm3), which decreases by a factor of 106 after etching to a depth of ~10 μm. Further, the tritium concentrations in the near surface (<10 μm) of unmodified stainless steel samples do not change significantly over the course of 233 days, which indicates a quasi-equilibrium state has been reached. Tritium migration to the surface from the subsurface region was measured by etching a sample and then storing it in air for 2 to 4 days. After storing in air, the surface concentrations increased a thousandfold and rapidly decreased to base levels after etching an additional ~2 μm. These measurements indicate that perturbing the quasi-equilibrium concentration profile results in tritium migration to the surface in order to reestablish the prior equilibrium state.