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.
Division Spotlight
Young Members Group
The Young Members Group works to encourage and enable all young professional members to be actively involved in the efforts and endeavors of the Society at all levels (Professional Divisions, ANS Governance, Local Sections, etc.) as they transition from the role of a student to the role of a professional. It sponsors non-technical workshops and meetings that provide professional development and networking opportunities for young professionals, collaborates with other Divisions and Groups in developing technical and non-technical content for topical and national meetings, encourages its members to participate in the activities of the Groups and Divisions that are closely related to their professional interests as well as in their local sections, introduces young members to the rules and governance structure of the Society, and nominates young professionals for awards and leadership opportunities available to members.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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
Apr 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
College students help develop waste-measuring device at Hanford
A partnership between Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) and Washington State University has resulted in the development of a device to measure radioactive and chemical tank waste at the Hanford Site. WRPS is the contractor at Hanford for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management.
Odmaa Sambuu, Toru Obara
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 177 | Number 1 | May 2014 | Pages 97-110
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE13-22
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In the past decade, greater emphasis has been placed in nuclear reactor design on passive systems for the removal of decay heat. This study focuses on the passive safety feature of decay heat removal in modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (HTGRs). The availability of this feature depends largely on reactor dimensions, power, and initial core temperature. It is assumed that the initial temperatures of fuel, graphite matrix, and coolant are the same, and so are represented by the initial core temperature, which is uniformly distributed throughout the core. However, little is known in general about the relationships among the parameters mentioned above or on the ability of the core to passively reject decay heat. To obtain a general understanding of the relationship of those parameters in HTGRs, analyses were performed, estimating the effects of initial core and soil temperatures and of the presence of structural materials on the maximum core temperature, allowable power, and size. Appropriate sizes were evaluated for reactors with given powers having various maximum power densities and operating at different initial core temperatures. Criticality and burnup analyses for the proposed reactors were performed, and it was found that all reactors with 20 wt% of uranium enrichment can be critical for over 16 years of operation.