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
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
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
Mitchell T. Farmer, Matthew Weathered, Darius Lisowski, Nathan Bremer, Dennis Kilsdonk, Tim Stack, Caleb Tomlin, Chris Plucker, Ed Moreno, Ran Kong, Zhengting Quan, Adam Dix, Seungjin Kim, Mamoru Ishii, Mark Anderson, Andrew Napora
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 196 | Number 1 | October 2022 | Pages S148-S164
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2052552
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The objective of the Versatile Test Reactor (VTR) is to enable testing of advanced reactor fuels and materials in a fast spectrum neutron environment. Internal cartridge loop testing capabilities are being developed that will allow the cartridge coolant to be isolated from the reactor coolant. This approach will allow various cartridge coolants to be investigated, thereby maximizing testing capability. A sodium cartridge loop testing capability is being developed by a team that includes Argonne National Laboratory (Argonne) as the laboratory partner, Framatome Inc. as the industrial partner, and Purdue University along with the University of Wisconsin–Madison as university partners. Specific elements of the current work include overall cartridge loop design development that is being led by Framatome, Inc. Coolant chemistry monitoring and control are key elements of any high-pedigree irradiation testing capability; the University of Wisconsin is leading this effort by developing and experimentally verifying methods for achieving this capability in pile. Purdue University is developing a scaling methodology, and on that basis, a thermal-hydraulic testing capability to validate fluid flow and heat transfer models for the cartridge that will be used to support design and safety analysis activities. Argonne has focused on developing and testing technologies specifically targeted at simplifying VTR operations, as well as developing modeling tools to support cartridge loop design and safety analysis. The purpose of this paper is to summarize the current status of the sodium fast reactor cartridge development, including details on the cartridge functional requirements, physical design, chemistry control, operations, and safety.