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
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!
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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.
Philip M. Daling, Jay E. Marler, Truong V. Vo, Hanh K. Phan, John R. Friley
Nuclear Technology | Volume 109 | Number 3 | March 1995 | Pages 429-436
Technical Note | Nuclear Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT95-A35090
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Pacific Northwest Laboratory, under contract to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, has conducted an assessment of the values (benefits) and impacts (costs) associated with potential resolutions to Generic Issue 143—“Availability of Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC) and Chilled Water Systems.” The key objectives of the study were to (a) identify vulnerabilities related to failures of HVAC, chilled water, and room-cooling systems, (b) develop estimates of room heatup rates and safety-related equipment vulnerabilities following losses of HVAC/room-cooler systems, (c) develop estimates of the core damage frequencies and public risks associated with failures of these systems, (d) develop proposed resolution strategies to this generic issue, and (e) perform a value/impact analysis of the proposed resolutions. Detailed probabilistic risk assessments for four representative plants form the basis for the core damage frequency and public risk calculations. Internally initiated core damage sequences as well as external events were considered. Three proposed resolution strategies were developed for this safety issue, and it was determined that all three were not cost effective. Additional evaluations were performed to develop “generic” insights on potential design-related vulnerabilities and potential high-frequency (> 10−4/reactor-yr) accident sequences that involve failures of HVAC/room-cooling functions. It was concluded that, although high-frequency accident sequences may exist at some plants, these sequences are plant-specific in nature or have been resolved through hardware and/or operational changes. The plant-specific individual plant examinations appear to be an effective vehicle for identification and resolution of these plant-specific anomalies and hardware configurations.