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Division Spotlight
Young Members Group
The Young Members Group works to encourage and enable all young professional members to be actively involved in the efforts and endeavors of the Society at all levels (Professional Divisions, ANS Governance, Local Sections, etc.) as they transition from the role of a student to the role of a professional. It sponsors non-technical workshops and meetings that provide professional development and networking opportunities for young professionals, collaborates with other Divisions and Groups in developing technical and non-technical content for topical and national meetings, encourages its members to participate in the activities of the Groups and Divisions that are closely related to their professional interests as well as in their local sections, introduces young members to the rules and governance structure of the Society, and nominates young professionals for awards and leadership opportunities available to members.
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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July 2025
Nuclear Technology
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Latest News
Smarter waste strategies: Helping deliver on the promise of advanced nuclear
At COP28, held in Dubai in 2023, a clear consensus emerged: Nuclear energy must be a cornerstone of the global clean energy transition. With electricity demand projected to soar as we decarbonize not just power but also industry, transport, and heat, the case for new nuclear is compelling. More than 20 countries committed to tripling global nuclear capacity by 2050. In the United States alone, the Department of Energy forecasts that the country’s current nuclear capacity could more than triple, adding 200 GW of new nuclear to the existing 95 GW by mid-century.
Kirk Drumheller
Nuclear Technology | Volume 24 | Number 3 | December 1974 | Pages 418-424
Technical Paper | Radioactive Waste | doi.org/10.13182/NT74-A31505
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
If a stable non-Earth intercept trajectory or orbit can be assured, extraterrestrial disposal offers the complete removal of long-lived nuclear waste constituents from Earth. The primary unfavorable features are that the concept deals with only part of the waste; possible launch safety problems exist, retrievability and monitoring are difficult, and the concept will require international agreements. Extraterrestrial disposal of the total waste constituents and of only the transuranic elements were considered. However, space disposal of the transuranics only is believed to be the most practical scheme, primarily because of the very high space transport cost per unit of weight. The implementation of space disposal of transuranic waste could be achieved with current technology. This technology is considered to include the space shuttle and the space tug, advanced vehicles that use existing engineering technology. The safety aspects for space disposal primarily include safety during launch and control of the extraterrestrial destination of the waste constituents. The potential for an abort that could cause a release of radionuclides during any one space launching is modestly high; however, relatively small amounts of waste constituents are associated with each launch; and package integrity is high even in an abort. The major energy consumption in space disposal is for propelling the waste to its final destination. This energy consumption for disposal of actinide waste is about 4 to 5 orders of magnitude less than the electrical energy from the original nuclear fuel, depending on the final space destination.