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Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy
The mission of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy Division (NNPD) is to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology while simultaneously preventing the diversion and misuse of nuclear material and technology through appropriate safeguards and security, and promotion of nuclear nonproliferation policies. To achieve this mission, the objectives of the NNPD are to: Promote policy that discourages the proliferation of nuclear technology and material to inappropriate entities. Provide information to ANS members, the technical community at large, opinion leaders, and decision makers to improve their understanding of nuclear nonproliferation issues. Become a recognized technical resource on nuclear nonproliferation, safeguards, and security issues. Serve as the integration and coordination body for nuclear nonproliferation activities for the ANS. Work cooperatively with other ANS divisions to achieve these objective nonproliferation policies.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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Securing the advanced reactor fleet
Physical protection accounts for a significant portion of a nuclear power plant’s operational costs. As the U.S. moves toward smaller and safer advanced reactors, similar protection strategies could prove cost prohibitive. For tomorrow’s small modular reactors and microreactors, security costs must remain appropriate to the size of the reactor for economical operation.
J. G. B. Saccheri, N. E. Todreas, M. J. Driscoll
Nuclear Technology | Volume 158 | Number 3 | June 2007 | Pages 315-347
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/NT07-A3845
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An 8-yr core design for an epithermal, water-cooled reactor has been developed based upon assessments of nuclear reactor physics, thermal hydraulics, and economics. An integral-vessel configuration is adopted, and self-supporting wire-wrap fuel is employed for the tight lattice of the epithermal core. A streaming path is incorporated in each assembly to ensure a negative void coefficient. A whole-core simulation of the tight core with the stochastic, continuous-energy, transport code MCNP shows a negative void coefficient for the whole cycle during normal operating conditions. Analysis of in-core, flow-induced vibrations indicates that the design has a greater margin to fluid-elastic instability than a standard pressurized water reactor, allowing for higher coolant mass flux and improved safety. Enhanced flow mixing and thermal margins are also achieved, and the VIPRETM code for subchannel thermal-hydraulic analysis has been used to calculate the critical heat flux (CHF) by means of a wire-wrap CHF correlation specifically introduced in the source code. The combination of increased fuel enrichment (~14 wt% 235U, still below the proliferation-resistant limit of 20 wt% 235U), relatively low core-average discharge burnup (70 MWd/kg HM), and very long core life (8 yr) lead to high lifetime-levelized fuel cycle unit cost [in mills/kWh(electric)]. However, both operation and maintenance (O&M) and capital-related expenditures strongly benefit from the higher electric output per unit volume, which yields quite small lifetime-levelized capital and O&M unit costs for the overall plant. Financing requirements are included, and an estimate is provided for the lifetime-levelized total unit cost of the epithermal core, which is ~16% lower than that of a more open-lattice thermal spectrum core, fitting into the same core envelope and with a 4-yr lifetime.