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.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Feb 2026
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
March 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
January 2026
Latest News
NRC grants license for TRISO-X fuel manufacturing using HALEU
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has granted X-energy subsidiary TRISO-X a special nuclear material license for high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel fabrication. The license applies to TRISO-X’s first two planned commercial facilities, known as TX-1 and TX-2, for an initial 40-year period. The facilities are set to be the first new nuclear fuel fabrication plants licensed by the NRC in more than 50 years.
Luciano Ondir Freire, Delvonei Alves de Andrade
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 78 | Number 4 | May 2022 | Pages 259-274
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2021.2000327
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Scientists detected 2.45-MeV neutrons and in smaller yields 4- and 5-MeV neutrons in deuterated metals under a 2.9-MeV electron beam. Such discovery could allow the use of deuterated metals at temperatures below their melting point to provide nuclear fusion reactions. Such reactions could provide fast neutrons and energy in the form of heat. This work analyzed the results of some experiments to infer the neutron multiplication rate in such environments. It also considered the possible roles that such phenomena could play in a commercial nuclear power reactor under economic and compactness constraints. It seems the best way to promote nuclear fusion is the irradiation of deuterated metals by fast neutrons. This work presents the concept of a hybrid fusion–fission reactor using fissile or fertile fuel to generate heat and fast neutrons along deuterated metals providing excess neutrons (reactivity boost). Additionally, deuterated metals also may have a role in neutron moderation requiring less volume than other moderators (water or graphite). Such a reactor, given its reactivity boost, may burn radioactive residuals (transmutation) at affordable costs while generating power. Alternatively, this hybrid fusion–fission concept could also breed fissile fuel from fertile isotopes using natural uranium as seed.