ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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Division Spotlight
Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
Meeting Spotlight
2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott Downtown
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!
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Latest News
BREAKING NEWS: Trump issues executive orders to overhaul nuclear industry
The Trump administration issued four executive orders today aimed at boosting domestic nuclear deployment ahead of significant growth in projected energy demand in the coming decades.
During a live signing in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump called nuclear “a hot industry,” adding, “It’s a brilliant industry. [But] you’ve got to do it right. It’s become very safe and environmental.”
Debdas Biswas, Roy W. Rathbun, Si Young Lee, Melvin R. Buckner
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 121 | Number 1 | September 1995 | Pages 1-16
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE95-A24124
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Studies have been conducted to demonstrate that weapons-grade plutonium can be readily disposed of by utilizing it as a fuel in pressurized water reactors (PWR). The disposition can be achieved by first fabricating the weapons-grade plutonium into a mixed-oxide (MOX) fuel form and then irradiating it in either advanced or existing PWRs to a depleted level similar to commercial spent fuel. Preliminary neutronics studies pertaining to safety-related core design using 100% weapons-grade MOX fuel are presented. The results demonstrate the feasibility of a small plutonium disposition reactor of 600-MW(electric) capacity called the PDR600, a large plutonium disposition reactor of 1400-MW(electric) capacity called the PDR1400, and a typical four-loop modified Westinghouse reactor. Feasible loading patterns are obtained for the initial and equilibrium cycles using discrete borosilicate glass burnable absorbers and a heavy loading of zirconium diboride integral fuel burnable absorbers in every fuel rod. The preliminary core physics results include information on soluble boron concentration, peaking factors, Doppler and moderator reactivity coefficients, boron, xenon and control rod worths, shutdown margin and delayed neutron parameters. The core design for weapons-grade plutonium disposition can be achieved with minimum changes in the present safety and licensing criteria of advanced or existing PWRs.