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
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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
Jul 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
ANS joins others in seeking to discuss SNF/HLW impasse
The American Nuclear Society joined seven other organizations to send a letter to Energy Secretary Christopher Wright on July 8, asking to meet with him to discuss “the restoration of a highly functioning program to meet DOE’s legal responsibility to manage and dispose of the nation’s commercial and legacy defense spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and high-level radioactive waste (HLW).”
Shiyi He, Yan Xia, Fei Xu, Leidang Zhou, Xiaoping Ouyang
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 195 | Number 2 | February 2021 | Pages 148-160
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2020.1794454
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Alpha-decay propulsion technology, a microthrust technology based on thin spontaneous-alpha-decay films, is proposed in this paper. A large quantity of decayed alpha particles emitted from the upper surface of thin films would generate thrust statistically. Simulations were executed using the Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport Code (MCNP) to acquire the energy and angular distributions of escaping alpha particles, as well as the key parameters of alpha-decay films. A 22.40-μm 210Po film combined with a 20-μm aluminum film was able to generate an average thrust of 29.5 nN/cm2 in half-life time. The remaining charges and thermal energies of the decay films were considered. Directional-generated alpha particles were simulated to analyze the influence of angular scattering on escaped alpha-particle distributions. Alpha particles with low energy, with large scattering angles, or with large generated angles contributed less to thrust value. With the assumptions of no scattering, constant stopping power, and no range struggling, a set of analytic formulas were derived. Comparisons of the distributions and typical parameters between simulations and the analytic model were conducted. Discrepancies were mostly caused by the three assumptions and were less than 3.7% for thrust and less than 3.9% for the proportion of escaped alpha-particles.