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
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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
ANS responds to “antiscientific” op-ed
The Hill recently published an opinion piece by Cindy Folkers and Amanda Nichols entitled “They won’t tell you these truths about nuclear energy.” Sadly, after the first sentence, their so-called truth veers into a diatribe of antiscientific fearmongering and misrepresentations.
Odmaa Sambuu, Van Khanh Hoang, Jun Nishiyama, Toru Obara
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 196 | Number 3 | March 2022 | Pages 322-341
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2021.1980361
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Since nuclear power plants were first developed over 80 years ago, most have had thermal reactors with enriched uranium as the main fuel. As a result, huge amounts of depleted uranium must be stockpiled and stored. Fast reactors operating in breed-and-burn (B&B) conditions are one potential approach to reducing the need for storage facilities to hold spent nuclear fuel and maximize the effective use of uranium resources. Sustaining B&B operating conditions depends on the choice of core materials. Here, we perform neutron balance analyses to determine the best combination of fuel and coolant material. We identify the features of the reactor core needed to maintain B&B operating mode by the amount of neutron loss from the core and coolant heat removal capability. Finally, we demonstrate that a large or small sodium-cooled fast reactor core with metallic or enriched nitride fuel, respectively, can sustain the chain reaction and B&B operation mode.