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
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Taking shape: Fusion energy ecosystems built with public-private partnerships
It’s possible to describe fusion in simple terms: heat and squeeze small atoms to get abundant clean energy. But there’s nothing simple about getting fusion ready for the grid.
Private developers, national lab and university researchers, suppliers, and end users working toward that goal are developing a range of complex technologies to reach fusion temperatures and pressures, confounded by science and technology gaps linked to plasma behavior; materials, diagnostics, and electronics for extreme environments; fuel cycle sustainability; and economics.
Yu Liu, Michael Nishimura, Liqian Li, Karen Colins
Nuclear Technology | Volume 197 | Number 1 | January 2017 | Pages 75-87
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NT16-97
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
With the advancement of computer and communication technologies, wireless sensor networks (WSNs) are increasingly used in nuclear and space applications of radiation dose monitoring, earth observation, etc. In both cases, intensive radiation effects on electronic survivability are a concern. Gamma-ray damaging mechanisms in semiconductor devices are described as, and specifically linked to, semiconductor property changes in detectors, transistors, and integrated circuits. Radiation damage is cumulative and can result in the premature failure of WSN nodes. Thus, radiation-resistant electronics are commonly used for space and nuclear applications. However, these devices present a significant cost, especially when monitoring large areas. This paper focuses on studying a protocol stack that achieves an effective compromise in the cost and performance in a large-scale gamma radiation environment. The probability density function of a Weibull distribution is used to model failures of individual nodes in simulated WSNs. The distribution parameters are based on results of radiation-damage tests performed on semiconductor devices in the Gamma-220 facility (60Co source) at the Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL). The simulation of the protocol stack proposed in this paper through network simulator 2 (NS2) and the resulting performance analyses could provide useful design insights and considerations for nuclear and space applications. Our work is the first study on designing an environmentally adaptive protocol stack in a large-scale gamma radiation environment for nuclear and space applications.