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
Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
May 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
July 2025
Nuclear Technology
June 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
High-temperature plumbing and advanced reactors
The use of nuclear fission power and its role in impacting climate change is hotly debated. Fission advocates argue that short-term solutions would involve the rapid deployment of Gen III+ nuclear reactors, like Vogtle-3 and -4, while long-term climate change impact would rely on the creation and implementation of Gen IV reactors, “inherently safe” reactors that use passive laws of physics and chemistry rather than active controls such as valves and pumps to operate safely. While Gen IV reactors vary in many ways, one thing unites nearly all of them: the use of exotic, high-temperature coolants. These fluids, like molten salts and liquid metals, can enable reactor engineers to design much safer nuclear reactors—ultimately because the boiling point of each fluid is extremely high. Fluids that remain liquid over large temperature ranges can provide good heat transfer through many demanding conditions, all with minimal pressurization. Although the most apparent use for these fluids is advanced fission power, they have the potential to be applied to other power generation sources such as fusion, thermal storage, solar, or high-temperature process heat.1–3
Dong Li, Rao Hao
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 196 | Number 2 | February 2022 | Pages 209-220
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2021.1968760
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
To simulate the complex accident phenomena of a marine reactor, the thermal-hydraulic system code RELAP5 is modified to perform the analysis under ocean conditions. An integrated reactor with a passive residual heat removal system (PRHRS) is modeled by the improved code, and the effects of different ocean motions under a total loss-of-flow accident (LOFA) and a loss-of-heat-sink (LOHS) accident are analyzed with respect to safety characteristics. The results indicate that for LOFA, the primary loop can form an effective natural circulation to cool the core, and for LOHS, the PRHRS can effectively remove the residual heat from the core to ensure the core safety. The results also show that heaving motion accelerates the drop of the first-loop temperature and enhances the heat transfer capacity of the PRHRS. Inclining motion reduces the natural circulation flow in the core. A rolling condition causes fluctuations in the mass flow rate, the variations of which are not strictly sinusoidal, and increasing the rolling period also improves the heat exchange capacity of the PRHRS.
