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
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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 2025
Jul 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
February 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Resurrecting Three Mile Island
When Exelon Generation shut down Three Mile Island Unit 1 in September 2019, managers were so certain that the reactor would never run again that as soon as they could, they had workers drain the oil out of both the main transformer and a spare to eliminate the chance of leaks. The company was unable to find a buyer because of the transformers’ unusual design. “We couldn’t give them away,” said Trevor Orth, the plant manager. So they scrapped them.
Now they will pay $100 million for a replacement.
The turnaround at the reactor—now called the Crane Clean Energy Center—highlights two points: how smart Congress was to step in with help to prevent premature closures with the zero-emission nuclear power production credit of 0.3 cents per kilowatt-hour (only two years too late), and how expensive it is turning out to be to change course.
A. Abdelghafar Galahom
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 193 | Number 6 | June 2019 | Pages 638-651
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2018.1560757
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This work presents a comparison between the homogeneous and heterogeneous [seed-blanket (SB)] fuel assembly used in the VVER-1200 core. The MCNPX 2.7 code with the ENDF/B-VII.0 data library was used to investigate the possible advantages that can be achieved when the SB assembly is used instead of homogeneous assembly. Thorium-232 was used as a fertile material in the blanket region and different fissile materials were investigated in the seed region. The neutronic characteristics of the presented designs were investigated by comparing four different combinations of fissile materials with (Th,U)O2 that were distributed uniformly through the whole assembly. The radial power distribution was investigated in both homogeneous and SB assemblies. The power distribution is flatter in the homogeneous assembly than the heterogeneous assembly. The suggested fuels in the SB assembly achieved a longer fuel cycle than the homogeneous assembly. Neutronic parameters related to reactor safety operation, such as control rod worth, Doppler reactivity coefficient, and effective delayed neutron fraction βeff have been investigated for the suggested fuel types. The SB assembly achieved a higher conversion ratio than the homogeneous assembly. Therefore, the fissile inventory ratio decreased more slowly with burnup in the case of SB than in the homogeneous assembly. Using 232Th instead of 238U reduced the production of the plutonium and the transuranic atoms.
