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
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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
NRC cuts fees by 50 percent for advanced reactor applicants
The Nuclear Regulatory Commission has announced it has amended regulations for the licensing, inspection, special projects, and annual fees it will charge applicants and licensees for fiscal year 2025.
Brian J. Ade, Benjamin R. Betzler, Joseph R. Burns, Christopher W. Chapman, Jianwei Hu
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 196 | Number 12 | December 2022 | Pages 1539-1558
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2035157
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Recent developments in manufacturing large metal hydrides are enabling their use as a moderator for advanced reactor designs. Yttrium hydride (YHx) is particularly attractive for small reactor designs because of its ability to retain a high hydrogen density at elevated temperatures. Design iteration for the Transformational Challenge Reactor (TCR), which uses a YH1.85 moderator, revealed positive moderator temperature coefficients. A positive temperature coefficient for YHx is expected regardless of the core design, however, the positive moderator coefficient exceeded that of the negative fuel temperature coefficient in some early TCR design iterations. The cause of the positive moderator coefficient is analyzed, and conditions for which positive temperature coefficients would be expected are identified for a number of fuel and moderator geometry layouts for dense tristructural isotropic/silicon carbide fuel and UO2 fuel.