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 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Mar 2026
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
March 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
April 2026
Latest News
NRC approves TerraPower construction permit
Today, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission announced that it has approved TerraPower’s construction permit application for Kemmerer Unit 1, the company’s first deployment of Natrium, its flagship sodium fast reactor.
This approval is a significant milestone on three fronts. For TerraPower, it represents another step forward in demonstrating its technology. For the Department of Energy, it reflects progress (despite delays) for the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program (ARDP). For the NRC, it is the first approval granted to a commercial reactor in nearly a decade—and the first approval of a commercial non–light water reactor in more than 40 years.
D. W. Millsap, M. E. Cournoyer, S. Landsberger, J. Tesmer, Y. Wang
Nuclear Technology | Volume 191 | Number 1 | July 2015 | Pages 106-112
Technical Note | Materials for Nuclear Systems | doi.org/10.13182/NT14-47
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Nylon 6,6 tensile specimens, conforming to the casing for self-contained fire extinguisher systems, have been irradiated using both an accelerator He++ ion beam and a 5-Ci PuBe neutron source to model the radiation damage these systems would likely incur over a lifetime of operation within glove boxes. Following irradiation, these samples were mechanically tested using standard practices as described in ASTM D638. The results of the He++ study indicate that the tensile strength of the nylon specimens undergoes some slight (<10%) degradation while other properties of the samples, such as elongation and tangent modulus, appear to fluctuate with increasing dose levels. The He++-irradiated specimens also have a noticeable level of discoloration corresponding to increasing levels of dose. The neutron-irradiated samples show a higher degree of mechanical degradation than the He++-irradiated samples.