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
Mathematics & Computation
Division members promote the advancement of mathematical and computational methods for solving problems arising in all disciplines encompassed by the Society. They place particular emphasis on numerical techniques for efficient computer applications to aid in the dissemination, integration, and proper use of computer codes, including preparation of computational benchmark and development of standards for computing practices, and to encourage the development on new computer codes and broaden their use.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2025
Nuclear Technology
April 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
First astatine-labeled compound shipped in the U.S.
The Department of Energy’s National Isotope Development Center (NIDC) on March 31 announced the successful long-distance shipment in the United States of a biologically active compound labeled with the medical radioisotope astatine-211 (At-211). Because previous shipments have included only the “bare” isotope, the NIDC has described the development as “unleashing medical innovation.”
Tyler Sumner, Tingzhou Fei
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 196 | Number 1 | October 2022 | Pages S309-S322
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2021.2009982
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Versatile Test Reactor (VTR) is a fast spectrum test reactor currently being developed in the United States under the direction of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy. Safety analysis of the conceptual VTR design is being performed using the SAS4A/SASSYS-1 fast reactor safety analysis code with a model representing the reactor core, primary and intermediate heat transport systems, reactor vessel auxiliary cooling system, and reactor protection system. The system’s response and safety performance has been evaluated for a wide spectrum of event initiators and accident sequences. This paper focuses on the results for several unprotected transient scenarios where the reactor protection system is assumed to fail to take any action. Even without the reactor protection system, the strong reactivity feedback response of the core reduces power to safe levels matching the available heat rejection. In the station blackout transient, the primary heat transport system is able to transition quickly and effectively to natural circulation. At the current stage of design, transient simulation results for the VTR indicate that large safety margins exist for many event initiators, including the unprotected transients presented in this paper.