ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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Division Spotlight
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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!
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Latest News
Deep Isolation validates its disposal canister for TRISO spent fuel
Nuclear waste disposal technology company Deep Isolation announced it has successfully completed Project PUCK, a government-funded initiative to demonstrate the feasibility and potential commercial readiness of its Universal Canister System (UCS) to manage TRISO spent nuclear fuel.
Charles Forsberg
Nuclear Technology | Volume 180 | Number 2 | November 2012 | Pages 191-204
Technical Paper | Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT12-A14633
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Fuel cycles have not historically been integrated with repository design. Four alternative combinations of fuel cycles and repository systems are assessed in the present work: (a) traditional repositories, (b) repositories with spent nuclear fuel retrievability for recycle or as insurance against unforeseen repository failure, (c) colocation and integration of reprocessing and repositories, and (d) colocated specialized disposal facilities such as boreholes for different wastes. System design choices have major impacts on fuel cycle economics, accident risk, repository performance, nonproliferation, and repository siting. Consequently, there are large incentives to understand the different ways to couple fuel cycles and repositories.The evidence suggests that a repository as only a disposal site (the current system) is the least desirable option given current requirements for the United States. There are large incentives to develop repository sites that colocate and integrate all back-end fuel cycle facilities with the repository - independent of the fuel cycles that are ultimately chosen or how these fuel cycles evolve over time. Colocation and integration change the interface requirements between facilities by eliminating many storage and transport requirements such as the need for waste forms with high waste loadings. That, in turn, can result in reductions in cost, reductions in risk, and improved repository performance. For closed fuel cycles, colocation and integration may eliminate repository safeguards. This also suggests a repository business model similar to that of many airport authorities. Airport authorities manage the runways with colocated public and private airline terminals, aircraft maintenance bases, and related operations - all enabled and benefiting from the high-value runway asset. The common high-value back-end fuel cycle asset is the repository. For the local community and state government, such a strategy couples back-end fuel cycle benefits (high-technology jobs, tax revenue, etc.) with the repository site.
