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
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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
Aug 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2025
Latest News
Nuclear Dirigo
On April 22, 1959, Rear Admiral George J. King, superintendent of the Maine Maritime Academy, announced that following the completion of the 1960 training cruise, cadets would begin the study of nuclear engineering. Courses at that time included radiation physics, reactor control and instrumentation, reactor theory and engineering, thermodynamics, shielding, core design, reactor maintenance, and nuclear aspects.
Andrei I. Shumeiko
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 80 | Number 7 | October 2024 | Pages 856-869
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2023.2227504
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The development of new space missions and the growing interest in space exploration have created an urgent need to develop high-thrust propulsion systems capable of propelling spacecraft far beyond the Earth and the solar system for long periods. Electric propulsion can potentially enable space missions to reach speeds thousands of times greater than conventional high-thrust chemical rockets. However, high speed comes at the cost of low power-to-thrust efficiency when considering propulsion systems as a whole, including the power generation system, transmission lines, and thrusters, which prevents high thrust from being achieved with any conceivable power system, resulting in long acceleration times. In addition, modern electric propulsion systems rely on external power sources that suffer significant power transfer losses at the high power levels required for high thrust levels. In addition, modern electric propulsion systems suffer from a number of critical physical and engineering problems that affect thrust levels and longevity. In addition, modern electric propulsion systems do not follow the principles of generation and acceleration of plasma flow that can be observed in space and potentially borrowed for artificial applications.
This paper discusses several promising electrodeless plasma thruster concepts for high-power, high-thrust electric propulsion systems based on a combined power source/power converter/thruster architecture. These concepts have the potential to overcome modern limitations of high-power electric propulsion systems and enable new outer space missions that would not be possible with conventional thrusters.