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Division Spotlight
Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
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
INL’s new innovation incubator could link start-ups with an industry sponsor
Idaho National Laboratory is looking for a sponsor to invest $5 million–$10 million in a privately funded innovation incubator to support seed-stage start-ups working in nuclear energy, integrated energy systems, cybersecurity, or advanced materials. For their investment, the sponsor gets access to what INL calls “a turnkey source of cutting-edge American innovation.” Not only are technologies supported by the program “substantially de-risked” by going through technical review and development at a national laboratory, but the arrangement “adds credibility, goodwill, and visibility to the private sector sponsor’s investments,” according to INL.
Katsuyuki Kawashima, Kazuteru Sugino, Shigeo Ohki, Tsutomu Okubo
Nuclear Technology | Volume 185 | Number 3 | March 2014 | Pages 270-280
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT13-38
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
As part of the Fast Reactor Cycle Technology Development (FaCT) Project, JSFR (Japan Sodium-Cooled Fast Reactor) core design efforts have been made to cope with the transuranic (TRU) fuel compositions expected during the light water reactor (LWR)–to–fast breeder reactor transition period, during which various kinds of TRU fuel compositions are available depending on the characteristics of the LWR spent fuels and their recycling method. The sodium void reactivity, which is one of the major core safety parameters, is considerably influenced by TRU fuel compositions. The criteria assigned to the JSFR core include a void reactivity effect limited to ∼6 $; therefore, designing a core with reduced sodium void reactivity will offer a greater margin for the core to host TRU fuel. To this end, a new core concept called BUMPY is proposed. This homogeneous core exhibits a low sodium void reactivity, due to partial-length fuels with an upper sodium plenum interspersed within the core, among other standard fuel assemblies. This core configuration enhances the upward and lateral neutron leakage from the core fuel region toward the sodium plenum when voiding to reduce void reactivity. The BUMPY core is applied to the 750-MW(electric) JSFR core design. The core can meet the design target by adjusting the loading fraction of the partial-length fuels and the height of the step in fuel lengths. The calculated void reactivity of the selected BUMPY core is 2.5 $ (25% loading fraction, 30-cm step height), which is considerably reduced from the 5.3 $ value of the reference core. This allows the BUMPY core to accommodate 5% to 9% more minor actinides in the core compared to the reference core.