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
Decommissioning & Environmental Sciences
The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
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
Glass strategy: Hanford’s enhanced waste glass program
The mission of the Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection (ORP) is to complete the safe cleanup of waste resulting from decades of nuclear weapons development. One of the most technologically challenging responsibilities is the safe disposition of approximately 56 million gallons of radioactive waste historically stored in 177 tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
ORP has a clear incentive to reduce the overall mission duration and cost. One pathway is to develop and deploy innovative technical solutions that can advance baseline flow sheets toward higher efficiency operations while reducing identified risks without compromising safety. Vitrification is the baseline process that will convert both high-level and low-level radioactive waste at Hanford into a stable glass waste form for long-term storage and disposal.
Although vitrification is a mature technology, there are key areas where technology can further reduce operational risks, advance baseline processes to maximize waste throughput, and provide the underpinning to enhance operational flexibility; all steps in reducing mission duration and cost.
Yasuhisa Oya, Suguru Masuzaki, Masayuki Tokitani, Moeko Nakata, Fei Sun, Makoto Oyaidzu, Kanetsuku Isobe, Nobuyuki Asakura, Teppei Otsuka, Anna Widdowson, Jari Likonen, Marek Rubel, JET Contributors
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 76 | Number 4 | May 2020 | Pages 439-445
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2020.1716455
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Hydrogen isotope retention and chemical state for the tiles exposed to plasma in the JET–ITER-like wall (ILW) during two campaigns in 2011–2012 (first campaign, ILW-1) and 2015–2016 (third campaign, ILW-3) were studied and compared by means of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and thermal desorption spectroscopy. In both campaigns the upper part of the inner divertor tiles was the deposition-dominated area, while erosion was observed on the outer divertor tiles. Therefore, higher deuterium retention was found on the inner divertor tiles. The major D desorption peak for the inner divertor tiles from ILW-3 was located at the temperature range of 470°C to 520°C, which was higher than measured after ILW-1: 370°C to 430°C. The XPS analyses showed the formation of a BeO layer on the ILW-3 inner divertor tiles, while after ILW-1 the layers also contained a significant amount of carbon. Deuterium retention was reduced toward the outer divertor tiles. The differences could be related to the difference in the power level in the two campaigns.