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Division Spotlight
Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy
The mission of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy Division (NNPD) is to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology while simultaneously preventing the diversion and misuse of nuclear material and technology through appropriate safeguards and security, and promotion of nuclear nonproliferation policies. To achieve this mission, the objectives of the NNPD are to: Promote policy that discourages the proliferation of nuclear technology and material to inappropriate entities. Provide information to ANS members, the technical community at large, opinion leaders, and decision makers to improve their understanding of nuclear nonproliferation issues. Become a recognized technical resource on nuclear nonproliferation, safeguards, and security issues. Serve as the integration and coordination body for nuclear nonproliferation activities for the ANS. Work cooperatively with other ANS divisions to achieve these objective nonproliferation policies.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo
November 17–21, 2024
Orlando, FL|Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld
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
ACU gets permit to build nation’s first molten salt university research reactor
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issued a construction permit yesterday to Abilene Christian University, giving ACU and its partners the go-ahead to build the Molten Salt Research Reactor (MSRR) facility on its Abilene, Texas, campus. The 1-MWt research reactor is the first molten salt–fueled reactor to get a construction permit from the NRC. After Kairos Power’s Hermes, it is the second non–light water reactor construction permit issued by the NRC.
Rei Kimura, Satoshi Wada
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 193 | Number 9 | September 2019 | Pages 1013-1022
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2019.1576454
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A small modular reactor (SMR) is a promising candidate for future nuclear energy; therefore, many organizations are developing SMRs. Some SMRs have a power output higher than 100 MW(electric). This paper, however, describes a much smaller reactor of less than 10-MW(electric) power output: a microreactor. The microreactor shares the same advantages as SMRs, i.e., passive safety, portability, and maintainability. This paper studies a calcium hydride (CaH2) heat pipe–cooled reactor in which heat pipes and CaH2 accomplish passive removal of generated heat, fuel inventory reduction, high-temperature operation, and prevention of a loss-of-coolant accident. The CaH2 allows operation at a core temperature of 800°C, which improves the efficiency of the reactor system. In the case of moderator function loss, hydrogen dissociation may occur at the higher temperature; however, negative temperature reactivity of the hydride-moderated core prevents reactor runaway. The negative temperature reactivity is realized by the poison nuclides 113Cd and 151Eu, which have a capture resonance peak at thermal energies in high-temperature operation. It was confirmed that the proposed method is capable of controlling the reactor over the whole burnup period.