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Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy
The mission of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy Division (NNPD) is to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology while simultaneously preventing the diversion and misuse of nuclear material and technology through appropriate safeguards and security, and promotion of nuclear nonproliferation policies. To achieve this mission, the objectives of the NNPD are to: Promote policy that discourages the proliferation of nuclear technology and material to inappropriate entities. Provide information to ANS members, the technical community at large, opinion leaders, and decision makers to improve their understanding of nuclear nonproliferation issues. Become a recognized technical resource on nuclear nonproliferation, safeguards, and security issues. Serve as the integration and coordination body for nuclear nonproliferation activities for the ANS. Work cooperatively with other ANS divisions to achieve these objective nonproliferation policies.
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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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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.
Klaus W. Klein
Nuclear Technology | Volume 33 | Number 1 | April 1977 | Pages 60-67
Technical Paper | Fuel | doi.org/10.13182/NT77-A31763
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The fuel element concept of the gas-cooled fast breeder reactor (GCFR) is based on vented fuel pins to equalize pressure differences between the fission gas inside the fuel pin and the coolant. The fission products escaping from the fuel, mainly noble gases, are collected and swept separately from the primary coolant by a helium stream into a purification plant. Calculations were performed to estimate the activity release during normal operation, transient, and accident conditions for a 1000-MW(e) GCFR designed by Kraftwerk Union. The results show that during normal operation, only 0.8% of the total equilibrium noble gas activity in the core will be released into the purification plant. The most severe case for the activity release is a depressurization accident followed by the release of the whole fission gas inventory in the interstitial gas volume of the fuel pins of ∼5.3 × 107 Ci (2.0 EBq). To adsorb this amount of fission gases in the low-temperature charcoal beds of the purification plant, a temporary refrigeration load of ∼173 kW is necessary. Using a purification plant with a refrigeration capacity of ∼50 kW and an equivalent storage of liquid nitrogen for auxiliary purposes, no significant extrapolation from the designed high-temperature gas-cooled reactor purification plants is necessary.
