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
Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
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
Darius Lisowski, Alex Grannan, Matthew Jasica, SuJong Yoon, Florent Heidet
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 196 | Number 1 | October 2022 | Pages S83-S97
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2043540
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
To support the development of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Versatile Test Reactor (VTR), a new set of experiments has been established at Argonne National Laboratory (ANL). Driven in part by the validation needs for code calculations and simulations of the reference VTR core design, three unique test facilities have been designed, or are in the process of being designed, to allow measurement of the phenomena and behavior prototypic to the full-scale VTR core. The Pressure drop Experimental Loop for Investigations of Core Assemblies in Nuclear reactors (PELICAN) facility, recently constructed and currently operational, is capable of producing full-scale flow rates for measurement of the pressure drop across a prototypic fuel assembly, including axial reflectors, fuel, and plenum components. The REDuced Scale Hydraulic Inlet Plenum (REDSHIP) experiment, beginning construction, will provide measurements of phenomena within the inlet plenum, including flow distributions through the core assembly ducts, pressure losses across the assembly receptacles, and localized velocity flow fields. A separate-effects-test experiment, called Parallel HEated ASsemblies for Advanced Nuclear Tests (PHEASANT), which is in the early stages of design, is being developed to examine the mixing of exiting core assembly jet streams within the upper plenum. As each of the test facilities becomes operational, they will begin generating timely, reliable, and qualified empirical data suitable for verification and validation of computational tools. In collaboration with other efforts across the DOE complex, the ANL experimental programs are well poised to provide continuous support for the advancement of the VTR design.