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 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Jun 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
July 2026
Nuclear Technology
June 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2026
Latest News
Antares achieves zero-power criticality at INL
Leveraging more than $140 million in private capital fundraising, over 322,000 square feet of operational manufacturing space, and multifaceted partnerships with the Departments of Energy and Defense, reactor start-up Antares has become the first company involved in the Reactor Pilot Program to achieve zero-power fueled criticality—a full month ahead of the July 4 deadline set by President Trump’s Executive Order 14301.
This milestone, announced yesterday, was achieved with the company’s Mark-0: a sodium heat-pipe-cooled, TRISO-fueled microreactor. The Mark-0 is a forerunner to the company’s flagship design, which it calls the R1. For Antares, this development represents a key validation of its reactor physics, control systems, and supply chain.
K. Vamsi Krishna, Sriharitha Rowthu, Vijay N. Nadakuduru, Ganesh Pilla, N. Kishore Babu
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 80 | Number 1 | January 2024 | Pages 68-81
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2023.2182119
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Titanium alloys are extensively used in aerospace applications due to their high strength-to-weight ratio, corrosion resistance, and outstanding mechanical performance. However, welding these alloys is difficult as they are highly reactive to environmental gases (O, N, and H) above 500°C. Aerospace structures require joints of high integrity to meet the design requirements. To this concern, gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) offers the potential to achieve welds of equal quality to electron beam welding or laser beam welding at much lower capital costs. The present study reports the influence of heat input on the evolution of microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti-15V-3Al-3Cr-3Sn (Ti-1533), a metastable beta titanium alloy welded by GTAW. The heat input can be controlled by different welding parameters like current, voltage, and welding speed. However, welding speed (15, 20, and 25 cm/min) is a crucial welding parameter that influences the cooling rate (product of thermal gradient and growth rate) and heat input. The microstructure of the fusion zone (FZ) consists of coarse columnar β grains, and coarse equiaxed β grains in the heat-affected zone, while the base metal comprises fine equiaxed β grains in all welding speeds. The average width of the FZ was found to decrease with an increase in welding speed due to lower heat input and higher cooling rate. The welds at 25 cm/min welding speed showed higher ultimate tensile strength (UTS) (654 ± 5 MPa) and hardness (240 HV) compared to 15 cm/min welding speed (UTS 593 ± 5 MPa; hardness 230 HV). The higher strength in the as-welded sample at 25 cm/min welding speed can be attributed to the lower columnar width of the β grains and the formation of equiaxed grains at the bottom portion of the weld zone. A similar trend was observed in samples subjected to the postweld heat treatment for all the weld speeds. Postweld aging of the welds prepared at 25 cm/min speed showed uniform α precipitates in the β matrix, as evidenced by transmission electron microscope results.