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Division Spotlight
Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
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!
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Latest News
Sam Altman steps down as Oklo board chair
Advanced nuclear company Oklo Inc. has new leadership for its board of directors as billionaire Sam Altman is stepping down from the position he has held since 2015. The move is meant to open new partnership opportunities with OpenAI, where Altman is CEO, and other artificial intelligence companies.
A. Nava Dominguez, Y. F. Rao
Nuclear Technology | Volume 203 | Number 2 | August 2018 | Pages 173-193
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1442085
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Canadian Nuclear Laboratories (CNL) is developing the technologies to enable the use of thorium-based fuels in pressure tube–heavy water reactors (PT-HWRs). One of the key stages in developing the thorium-based fuels for PT-HWRs is the reactor core configuration. Currently at CNL there are 20 core configurations under investigation, which involve several types of thorium-based fuels that could be implemented in a 700-MW(electric)-class PT-HWR. Among these core configurations, four fuel bundle concepts are being considered: (1) the reference (or nominal) 37-element bundle; (2) a 37-element modified bundle, with the center element using a different fuel material; (3) a 35-element bundle; and (4) an 18-element internally cooled annular fuel bundle. This study presents the steady-state subchannel thermal-hydraulic assessment of the 20 core configurations under investigation. The hottest channel approach is used in this study, as it represents the upper limit of a feasible design. The axial and element power distributions used in the analysis correspond to those of the discharge burnup. Three mass flows are considered in this study: 13.5, 21, and 24 kg/s. Five parameters are used to evaluate the fuel channel/bundle performance, namely, minimum critical heat flux ratio, channel pressure drop, enthalpy distribution, void fraction, and core power.