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
Materials Science & Technology
The objectives of MSTD are: promote the advancement of materials science in Nuclear Science Technology; support the multidisciplines which constitute it; encourage research by providing a forum for the presentation, exchange, and documentation of relevant information; promote the interaction and communication among its members; and recognize and reward its members for significant contributions to the field of materials science in nuclear technology.
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.
Alexey V. Golubev, Valentina N. Golubeva
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 76 | Number 6 | August 2020 | Pages 731-738
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2020.1777671
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Fusion reactors are considered an almost unlimited source of power for the future, with tritium [deuterium-tritium (D-T) mixture] being the most convenient fuel for these facilities. Due to tritium-specific features and its self-radioactivity there are a number of issues when handling a large amount of tritium for long-term operations of fusion reactors. This paper presents research results of tritium behavior in the D-T mixture and in the environment during operations at tritium facilities. The results provide the basis for an assessment of the future environmental effects of long-term operation of a fusion reactor/tritium facility. The results of experimental and modeling studies include tritium reactions with carbon oxides under radiolysis, radiolysis of DTO, tritium dispersion in atmosphere under rough terrain, tritium oxide washout from atmosphere, tritium oxidation in soil with soil bacteria, tritium oxide migration in the unsaturated soil layer, and tritium uptake by plants, crops, and lichens. Both experimental and observational data have been used to develop models to predict tritium behavior in the environment under similar conditions. The models have been verified and validated.