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
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Jun 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
July 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
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.
Ronald W. Goles, Langdon K. Holton, Jr., Gary J. Sevigny
Nuclear Technology | Volume 100 | Number 3 | December 1992 | Pages 310-321
Technical Paper | Enrichment and Reprocessing System | doi.org/10.13182/NT92-A34727
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Pacific Northwest Laboratory (PNL) has evaluated the waste processing behavior of mercury in simulated defense waste. A series of tests was performed under various operating conditions using an experimental-scale liquid-fed ceramic melter (LFCM). This solidification technology had no detectable capacity for incorporating mercury into its product, borosilicate glass. Essentially all the mercury fed to the melter was lost to the off-gas system as gaseous effluent. An ejector venturi scrubber condensed and collected 97% of the mercury evolved from the melter. Chemically, the condensed mercury effluent was composed almost entirely of chlorides, and except in a low-temperature test, Hg2Cl2 was the primary chloride formed. As a result, combined mercury accounted for most of the insoluble mass collected by the process quench scrubber. Although macroscopic quantities of elemental mercury were never observed in process secondary waste streams, finely divided and dispersed mercury that blackened all condensed Hg2Cl2 residues was capable of saturating the quenched process exhaust with mercury vapor. The vapor pressure of mercury, however, in the quenched melter exhaust was easily and predictably controlled with the off-gas stream chiller. These tests followed 12 earlier experiments performed at PNL to study the behavior of mercury during vitrification of simulated typical defense waste. The experiments were conducted using an experimental-scale spray calciner/in-can melter (SC/ICM) system plus a very similar off-gas system. Results with both the LFCM and SC/ICM technologies were essentially the same. Just as with the LFCM, the mercury was completely volatilized from the in-can melter system in all experiments. It reacted predominantly with halogens to form a fine particulate solid, most of which was deposited in the off-gas system piping.
