Nuclear Technology -- ANS / Publications / Journals / Nuclear Technology

About ANS
- ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
About Nuclear
- Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Membership
- Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Events
- Conference Spotlight
  2026 Annual Conference
  May 31–June 3, 2026
  Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Standards
- 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!
Publications
- Latest Magazine Issues
  Nov 2025
  Jul 2025
  Latest Journal Issues
  Nuclear Science and Engineering
  December 2025
  Nuclear Technology
  November 2025
  Fusion Science and Technology
  November 2025
- Latest News
  A trip abroad
  Hash Hashemian president@ans.org
  In my August column in Nuclear News, I reflected on the importance of ANS’s annual conferences for bringing together our nuclear community at the national level. In September, after speaking at Tennessee’s Nuclear Opportunities Workshop, I focused my NN column that month on the value of state-level conferences.
  Also in September, alongside ANS Executive Director/CEO Craig Piercy, I shifted my focus to another key front in nuclear collaboration, the international stage, by attending the General Conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna.
  The timing of the IAEA’s General Conference could not have been better; it took place the same week the U.S. and U.K. kicked off a new wave of transatlantic partnerships in the nuclear sector between both government and industry. This fortuitous overlapping gave us a timely and concrete reminder of international collaboration’s unparalleled benefits.
  The General Conference was an expectedly busy event. To cover as much ground as possible, Piercy and I took turns attending either the U.S. delegation meetings with other countries or the General Assembly of the IAEA, where the American Nuclear Society has a seat among other critical nongovernmental organizations.
  We listened to presentations by several of the 180 IAEA member states, including, of course, the United States. Aside from ANS, the U.S. presence at the conference included U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, NRC Chair David Wright, and DOE Assistant Secretary of Nuclear Energy Ted Garrish.
  U.S. representation was further bolstered by an industry delegation that included 65 participants from 32 companies, many of whom used the opportunity to report progress on their plans for the international expansion of their nuclear fleets. Meetings of that industry delegation were coordinated by the Nuclear Energy Institute.
  Aside from the main conference, Piercy and I also attended the embedded meetings of the International Nuclear Society Council. INSC exists to facilitate knowledge-sharing and collaboration between 18 different member nuclear societies from around the world.
  The INSC meetings within the General Conference brought together the presidents and senior members of those societies to give presentations and explore new opportunities. I made a presentation on the state of nuclear in North America, covering the latest developments and deployments in the U.S. and Canada.
  This presentation emphasized the new nuclear lift in the U.S. that is being heavily supported by the Trump administration. I recapped the four executive orders issued by President Trump in May, the recent momentum at the DOE, and how these changes are capitalizing on a broader groundswell in both industry development and public support.
  I also pointed out the success of our neighbor Canada in progressing on the first water-cooled small modular reactor in North America using BWRX-300 technology, which was supplied by an American firm and international partners—a perfect symbol of the value of global nuclear collaboration.
  In all, I have now represented ANS at the state, national, and international levels, gaining useful insight into the work that needs to be done at each. From this vantage point, it’s clear to me that the path forward from the country to the globe is to, above all else, keep working together and supporting each other to bring about the next age of nuclear.
Search

In the United States, approximately 2500 casks are loaded with commercial spent nuclear fuel (SNF) that has transitioned from wet storage (spent fuel pools) to dry storage. The number of loaded dry storage casks is increasing by approximately 200 each year. Over time, cask designs have evolved to enhance safety and to accommodate more fuel and higher heat loads. Also, higher burnup fuel is being transitioned into dry storage. The SNF is being stored in dry casks for longer times than specified in the original certification period. Several degradation mechanisms related to fuel assemblies and canisters are affected by temperature. For the cladding, temperature-dependent phenomena include creep and annealing, hydride reorientation and embrittlement, and the ductile-to-brittle transition. Temperature can also influence phenomena that affect the long-term integrity of the storage system, including deliquescence, corrosion, and stress-corrosion cracking. Therefore, accurate determination of the temperatures of various components is needed to evaluate potential safety-related issues during transportation after extended storage and to ensure SNF retrievability. The Used Nuclear Fuel-Storage, Transportation & Disposal Analysis Resource and Data System (UNF-ST&DARDS) is being developed for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Nuclear Energy to streamline analyses for the waste management system [Nucl. Technol., Vol. 195, p. 124 (2017)]. The thermal analysis capability within UNF-ST&DARDS and example results are discussed herein.