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.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Aug 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2026
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2026
Latest News
Undeclared uranium hitches a ride on cobalt exports from Congo, study says
Philippe (left) and Manzuk quantified the amount of uranium that has been exported from the DRC in cobalt shipments or left behind in the environment. (Photo: Joel Hallberg/UW–Madison)
Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and Princeton University have published a study in Nature Communications that calls attention to a blind spot in nuclear nonproliferation: The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has exported thousands of metric tons of uranium, and there is no accounting for where it has gone.
In partnership with Lighthouse Reports and the Financial Times, UW–Madison nuclear engineering professor and nuclear security expert Sébastien Philippe and Ryan Manzuk, a geologist and research fellow in Philippe’s group and at Princeton, conducted the study using countrywide mineralization and geochemical data.
Fumiaki Yamada, Yoshitaka Fukano, Hiroshi Nishi, Mamoru Konomura
Nuclear Technology | Volume 188 | Number 3 | December 2014 | Pages 292-321
Technical Note | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT13-56
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The capability of natural circulation for core cooling has been evaluated in detail for a station blackout (SBO) event induced by an earthquake and a subsequent tsunami hit. The evaluation was prompted by the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station of Tokyo Electric Power Company. The plant dynamics computer code Super-COPD was used for the evaluation, which has been validated by analyses of preliminary test results on the natural circulation in Monju. As a result, it was concluded that natural circulation of the sodium coolant will enable the decay heat from the core to be removed under such an SBO condition.