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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy
The mission of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy Division (NNPD) is to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology while simultaneously preventing the diversion and misuse of nuclear material and technology through appropriate safeguards and security, and promotion of nuclear nonproliferation policies. To achieve this mission, the objectives of the NNPD are to: Promote policy that discourages the proliferation of nuclear technology and material to inappropriate entities. Provide information to ANS members, the technical community at large, opinion leaders, and decision makers to improve their understanding of nuclear nonproliferation issues. Become a recognized technical resource on nuclear nonproliferation, safeguards, and security issues. Serve as the integration and coordination body for nuclear nonproliferation activities for the ANS. Work cooperatively with other ANS divisions to achieve these objective nonproliferation policies.
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!
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Latest News
Why should safeguards by design be a global effort?
Jeremy Whitlock
I can’t think of a more exciting time to be working in nuclear, with the diversity of advanced reactor development and increasing global support for nuclear in sustainable energy planning. But we can’t lose sight of the need to plan for efficient international safeguards at the same time.
Global nuclear deployment has been underpinned since 1970 by the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT), making it a key customer requirement for governments to demonstrate unequivocally that the technology is not being misused for weapons development.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has helped verify this commitment for more than 50 years, but it has never safeguarded many of the advanced reactors (and related fuel cycle processes) being developed today.
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.