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
Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
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
Shunsuke Uchida, Satoshi Hanawa, Yutaka Nishiyama, Takehiko Nakamura, Tomonori Satoh, Takashi Tsukada, Jan Kysela
Nuclear Technology | Volume 183 | Number 1 | July 2013 | Pages 119-135
Technical Paper | Materials for Nuclear Systems | doi.org/10.13182/NT13-A16997
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In-pile loop experiments are one of the key technologies that can provide an understanding of corrosion behaviors of structural materials in nuclear power plants (NPPs). The experiments should be supported not only by reliable measurement tools to confirm corrosive conditions under neutron and gamma-ray irradiations but also by theoretical models for extrapolating the measured data to predict corrosion behaviors in NPPs.The relationships among electrochemical corrosion potential (ECP), metal surface conditions, exposure time, and other environmental conditions have been determined from in situ measurements of corrosion behaviors of stainless steel specimens exposed to H2O2 and O2 in high-temperature water. Based on the relationships, a model to evaluate the ECP of stainless steel was developed by coupling an electrochemical model and a double-oxide layer model.Major conclusions obtained from the evaluation model are as follows: (a) The difference in ECP behaviors of the specimens exposed to H2O2 and O2 were mainly from the thickness and developing rate of the inner oxide layers. (b) Calculated ECP behaviors, e.g., the different responses to H2O2 and O2 and hysteresis and memory effects, agreed with the measured ones. (c) Neutron exposure might decrease ECP due to radiation-induced diffusion in the oxide layer.The ECP evaluation model will be applied to evaluation of corrosive conditions in the JMTR in-pile loop.