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
Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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
Mar 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
February 2024
Latest News
From South Korea to Belgium: Testing a high-density research reactor fuel
The Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute has developed a high-density uranium silicide fuel designed to replace high-enriched uranium in research reactors. Recent irradiation tests appear to be successful, KAERI reports, which means the fuel could be commercialized to continue a key global nuclear nonproliferation effort—converting research reactors to run on low-enriched uranium fuel.
Jinsong Liu, Ivars Neretnieks, Bo H. E. Strömberg
Nuclear Technology | Volume 142 | Number 3 | June 2003 | Pages 294-305
Technical Paper | Radioisotopes | doi.org/10.13182/NT03-A3391
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In the concept of deep geological disposal of spent nuclear fuel, a chemically reducing environment in the near field of a repository is favorable for retaining the radionuclides in the fuel. Water radiolysis can possibly change a reducing environment in the near field to an oxidizing environment. In this paper, the consequences of secondary water radiolysis, caused by radionuclides released from the spent nuclear fuel and dispersed in the bentonite buffer surrounding a canister, have been studied.The canister is assumed to be initially defective with a hole of a few millimeters on its wall. The small hole will considerably restrict the transport of oxidants through the canister wall and the release of radionuclides to the outside of the canister. The spent fuel dissolution is assumed to be controlled by chemical kinetics at rates extrapolated from experimental studies. Two cases are considered. In the first case it is assumed that secondary phases of radionuclides [such as amorphous Pu(OH)4 and AmOHCO3] do not precipitate inside the canister. The model results show that a relatively large domain of the near field can be oxidized by the oxidants of secondary radiolysis. In the second case it is assumed that secondary phases of radionuclides precipitate inside the canister, and the radionuclide concentration within the canister is controlled by its respective solubility limit. The amount of radionuclides released out of the canister will then be limited by the solubility of the secondary phases. The effect of the secondary radiolysis outside the canister on the rate of spent fuel oxidation inside a defective canister will be quite limited and can be neglected for any practical purposes in this case.