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
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2025
Latest News
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
R. A. Lefebvre, P. Miller, J. M. Scaglione, K. Banerjee, J. L. Peterson, G. Radulescu, K. R. Robb, A. B. Thompson, H. Liljenfeldt, J. P. Lefebvre
Nuclear Technology | Volume 199 | Number 3 | September 2017 | Pages 227-244
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2017.1314747
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
To understand the changing nuclear and mechanical characteristics of spent nuclear fuel (SNF) or used nuclear fuel (UNF) and the different storage, transportation, and disposal systems at various stages within the waste management system, different types of analyses are required. These analyses require the use of assorted tools and numerous types of data. Using the appropriate modeling and simulation (M&S) parameters and selecting from the diversity of analytic tools to conduct SNF analyses can be a tedious, error-prone, and time-consuming undertaking for analysts and reviewers alike. A new, integrated data and analysis system was designed to simplify and automate performance of accurate, efficient evaluations for characterizing the input to the overall U.S. nuclear waste management system—the UNF-Storage, Transportation & Disposal Analysis Resource and Data System (UNF-ST&DARDS). A relational database has been assembled to provide a standard means by which UNF-ST&DARDS can succinctly store and retrieve M&S parameters for specific SNF analysis. A library of various analysis model templates is used to communicate M&S parameters for the most appropriate M&S application. A process manager facilitates performance of actual as-loaded, assembly-specific, and cask-specific evaluations. Interactive visualization capabilities facilitate data analysis and results interpretation. To date, UNF-ST&DARDS has completed (1) explicit depletion and decay analysis of every fuel assembly (~245 000) discharged from commercial U.S. reactors through June 2013, with 13 cooling time steps (results include isotopic compositions for 142 isotopes, and radiation and thermal source terms); (2) SNF radiation dose rate evaluations at 1 m for all the fuel assemblies discharged through June 2013; and (3) criticality, shielding, thermal, and containment analyses of hundreds of loaded casks. UNF-ST&DARDS also provides various automated report generation capabilities with dynamic figure and table update capabilities based on changes to the Unified Database.
