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Division Spotlight
Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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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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.
S. R. Bierman, E. D. Clayton
Nuclear Technology | Volume 52 | Number 3 | March 1981 | Pages 342-346
Technical Paper | Fission Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT81-A32708
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Fuel element storage racks in shipping casks or fuel basin storage pools are generally designed and built such that either structural materials and/or fixed neutron poisons create neutron flux traps between the fuel elements. To provide data for comparison with calculations on such systems, a series of criticality experiments has been performed in which flux traps were created between subcritical clusters of low 235U-enriched (2.35 and 4.31 wt%) UO2 rods in water. The flux traps were created by attaching thin plates of either Boral or Type 304-L stainless steel to the opposing faces of the fuel clusters. For both 235U enrichments the number of fuel rods required in each fuel cluster for the assembly to be critical increased uniformly as the distance between the plates creating the flux trap increased from near zero (0.64 cm) to that approaching infinity. The measurement data indicate that as the thickness of the flux trap increases the type of material creating the trap becomes less important.