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Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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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Glass strategy: Hanford’s enhanced waste glass program
The mission of the Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection (ORP) is to complete the safe cleanup of waste resulting from decades of nuclear weapons development. One of the most technologically challenging responsibilities is the safe disposition of approximately 56 million gallons of radioactive waste historically stored in 177 tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
ORP has a clear incentive to reduce the overall mission duration and cost. One pathway is to develop and deploy innovative technical solutions that can advance baseline flow sheets toward higher efficiency operations while reducing identified risks without compromising safety. Vitrification is the baseline process that will convert both high-level and low-level radioactive waste at Hanford into a stable glass waste form for long-term storage and disposal.
Although vitrification is a mature technology, there are key areas where technology can further reduce operational risks, advance baseline processes to maximize waste throughput, and provide the underpinning to enhance operational flexibility; all steps in reducing mission duration and cost.
Paul P. H. Wilson, Todd R. Allen, Laila A. El-Guebaly
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 47 | Number 3 | April 2005 | Pages 445-449
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - Experimental Devices and Advanced Designs | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A727
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
For the first time since the early 1990's, the U.S. Department of Energy has long term research and development programs in both nuclear fission and nuclear fusion, the Generation IV program and the ARIES program, respectively. The Generation IV program has introduced a safety goal for future fission reactor systems that has long been reflected in the ARIES mission: no off-site emergency response to any design basis accident. This change, in concert with the overall departure from light water reactor technology, will drive a change in the regulatory framework for both Generation IV reactors and fusion power plants of the future. Further, both fission and fusion power plants will have to compete in similar future energy markets with uncertainties in energy prices and the development of alternative energy products. Enabling the success of nuclear energy, advanced materials will be a cornerstone to both programs, driven both by higher temperatures and heat fluxes and by a desire for longer lifetimes in high radiation environments. The synergies created by these increasingly parallel programs open the door for renewed collaborations that will increase the total effectiveness of research needed in both.