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
Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls
Improving task performance, system reliability, system and personnel safety, efficiency, and effectiveness are the division's main objectives. Its major areas of interest include task design, procedures, training, instrument and control layout and placement, stress control, anthropometrics, psychological input, and motivation.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver 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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2025
Latest News
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
Terry F. Rees, Jess M. Cleveland, Kenneth L. Nash
Nuclear Technology | Volume 65 | Number 1 | April 1984 | Pages 131-137
Technical Paper | Postaccident Debris Cooling / Radioactive Waste Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT84-A33380
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The speciation of plutonium, neptunium, and americium was determined in groundwaters from four sources in the Basin and Range Province: the lower carbonate aquifer, Nevada Test Site (NTS) (Crystal Pool); alluvial fill, Frenchman Flat, NTS (well 5C); Hualapai Valley, Arizona (Red Lake south well); and Tularosa Basin, New Mexico (Rentfrow well). Plutonium generally was most soluble in Rentfrow and well 5C waters and was present primarily in the higher oxidation states in these waters. Solubility was lowest in Crystal Pool water, apparently because this water was capable of reducing plutonium to relatively insoluble Pu(IV). In general, plutonium was comparatively insoluble in Red Lake south well water, but results were somewhat more variable. The behavior of neptunium paralleled that of plutonium, although the influence of oxidation-reduction properties of the groundwaters appeared to be less pronounced. The americium results were different from those of plutonium and neptunium, as would be expected from its existence in these waters solely as the trivalent ion. In general, it was relatively soluble in all waters at 25 °C, and relatively insoluble at 90°C. The results were interpreted to indicate that plutonium and, to a lesser extent, neptunium are least soluble in reducing groundwaters containing a large concentration of sulfate ion and a small concentration of strongly complexing anions. The results further emphasize the desirability of including studies such as this among the other site-selection criteria for nuclear waste repositories.