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
Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
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
College students help develop waste-measuring device at Hanford
A partnership between Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) and Washington State University has resulted in the development of a device to measure radioactive and chemical tank waste at the Hanford Site. WRPS is the contractor at Hanford for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management.
Gabriele Ferrero, Samuele Meschini, Raffaella Testoni
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 78 | Number 8 | November 2022 | Pages 617-630
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2022.2096365
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Affordable, Robust, Compact (ARC) fusion reactor is a preconceptual design proposed by the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology that will be developed by Commonwealth Fusion Systems. ARC features a Li2BeF4 (FLiBe) molten salt liquid blanket that provides reactor cooling, neutron shielding, and tritium breeding. This work aims to develop a preliminary coupled computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and tritium transport model to describe FLiBe flow inside the tank and to assess ARC tritium inventory in the vacuum vessel and blanket. Both models are built by taking advantage of COMSOL® Multiphysics. FLiBe velocity and temperature fields are evaluated by the CFD models, and they are passed as input to the tritium transport model. The tritium transport model computes tritium concentration inside solid materials and FLiBe. An auxiliary FLiBe inlet has been moved from the original position in the ARC preconceptual design to improve blanket cooling and to reduce the size of flow eddies. Results show that many recirculation zones generate inside the tank for the chosen tank geometry, size, and inlet-outlet conditions. Larger FLiBe temperature and tritium concentration are found in these zones. The high FLiBe temperature in recirculation areas may not allow for effective cooling, and Inconel 718 reaches critical temperatures. The largest tritium concentration for a steady-state model with continuity of tritium partial pressure at the interfaces is found in Inconel 718 while the second-highest concentration is reached in FLiBe. The total tritium inventory in the ARC blanket with the assumed model is quantified as 3.16 g.