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
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
Jan 2026
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
January 2026
Nuclear Technology
December 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
November 2025
Latest News
AI at work: Southern Nuclear’s adoption of Copilot agents drives fleet forward
Southern Nuclear is leading the charge in artificial intelligence integration, with employee-developed applications driving efficiencies in maintenance, operations, safety, and performance.
The tools span all roles within the company, with thousands of documented uses throughout the fleet, including improved maintenance efficiency, risk awareness in maintenance activities, and better-informed decision-making. The data-intensive process of preparing for and executing maintenance operations is streamlined by leveraging AI to put the right information at the fingertips for maintenance leaders, planners, schedulers, engineers, and technicians.
A. Abou-Sena, A. Ying, M. Youssef, M. Abdou
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 56 | Number 1 | July 2009 | Pages 211-215
Tritium, Safety, and Environment | Eighteenth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Part 1) | doi.org/10.13182/FST09-A8904
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Quarter Port Submodule (QPS) was proposed as a Solid Breeder (SB) Test Blanket Module under the US program of the SB blankets. The QPS features layer configuration, in its left half, where the SB pebble beds are parallel to the first wall and edge-on configuration, in its right half, where the SB pebble beds are perpendicular to the first wall. The objective of this study is to investigate: (i) the QPS thermal profile under steady state conditions and ITER transient loads, and (ii) the impact of the interface conductance h on the QPS thermal profile. In addition the effect of lack of contact, at the SB pebbles/structure interface, on the QPS thermal profile is presented. The results of the steady state cases showed that h has a significant impact on the QPS thermal profile. The QPS transient analysis provided results on: (i) QPS thermal profile under a pulse length of 400s, (ii) burning time required for reaching the equilibrium temperatures, and (iii) time needed to cool the QPS. In the cases of lack of contact, the maximum temperature of the SB pebble beds exceeded the SB temperature limit, which may cause sintering of the pebbles and consequently inhibit the tritium release.