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
Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2024
Nuclear Technology
August 2024
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Taking shape: Fusion energy ecosystems built with public-private partnerships
It’s possible to describe fusion in simple terms: heat and squeeze small atoms to get abundant clean energy. But there’s nothing simple about getting fusion ready for the grid.
Private developers, national lab and university researchers, suppliers, and end users working toward that goal are developing a range of complex technologies to reach fusion temperatures and pressures, confounded by science and technology gaps linked to plasma behavior; materials, diagnostics, and electronics for extreme environments; fuel cycle sustainability; and economics.
D. A. Petti, R. R. Hobbins, P. Lowry, H. Gougar
Nuclear Technology | Volume 184 | Number 2 | November 2013 | Pages 181-197
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT184-181
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactors (MHTGRs) offer a high degree of passive safety. The low power density of the reactor and the high heat capacity of the graphite core result in slow transients that do not challenge the integrity of the robust TRISO fuel. Another benefit of this fuel form and the surrounding graphite is their superior ability to retain fission products under all anticipated normal and off-normal conditions, which limits reactor accident source terms to very low values. In this paper, we develop estimates of the source term for a generic MHTGR to illustrate the performance of the radionuclide barriers that comprise the MHTGR functional containment. We also examine the influence of initial fuel quality, fuel performance/failure, reactor outlet temperature, and retention outside of the reactor core on the resultant source term to the environment.