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.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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
Dec 2025
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
January 2026
Nuclear Technology
December 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
November 2025
Latest News
Browns Ferry’s reactors receive subsequent license renewals
The operating licenses for the three boiling water reactors at Browns Ferry nuclear power plant, in Athens, Ala., have each been renewed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for an additional 20 years. The reactors, operated by the Tennessee Valley Authority, are now licensed to operate until December 2053 for Unit 1, June 2054 for Unit 2, and July 2056 for Unit 3.
Tsendsuren Amarjargal, Jun Nishiyama, Toru Obara
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 197 | Number 4 | April 2023 | Pages 711-718
Technical Note | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2129952
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The purpose of this study is to clarify the possibility of designing a small rotational fuel-shuffling breed-and-burn fast reactor (RFBB) with nitride fuel and sodium coolant based on neutronic and heat removal analyses. In these reactor analyses, uranium nitride fuel with a helium bond and sodium coolant was applied to the RFBB, whose thermal power is 450 MW. The structural and cladding materials are oxide dispersion-strengthened ferritic steel. Calculation results showed that the core with rotational fuel shuffling achieved an equilibrium state at criticality near unity, and the average discharge burnup of discharged fuel was 187 MWd/kg heavy metal. In this equilibrium state, reactor characteristics, such as neutron flux and the power profile, were almost stable, and the maximum displacements-per-atom value was slightly higher than 650. A steady-state heat removal analysis was performed for the hottest channel in the core, revealing that the fuel temperature was lower than the operational limit temperature and that the cladding temperature was lower than its melting temperature. However, it was slightly higher than the suggested value of 600°C for retaining nitride fuel integrity for high burnup. It was shown that the core radius could be smaller than that of the metal-fueled core of the previous study.