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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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2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott 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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High-temperature plumbing and advanced reactors
The use of nuclear fission power and its role in impacting climate change is hotly debated. Fission advocates argue that short-term solutions would involve the rapid deployment of Gen III+ nuclear reactors, like Vogtle-3 and -4, while long-term climate change impact would rely on the creation and implementation of Gen IV reactors, “inherently safe” reactors that use passive laws of physics and chemistry rather than active controls such as valves and pumps to operate safely. While Gen IV reactors vary in many ways, one thing unites nearly all of them: the use of exotic, high-temperature coolants. These fluids, like molten salts and liquid metals, can enable reactor engineers to design much safer nuclear reactors—ultimately because the boiling point of each fluid is extremely high. Fluids that remain liquid over large temperature ranges can provide good heat transfer through many demanding conditions, all with minimal pressurization. Although the most apparent use for these fluids is advanced fission power, they have the potential to be applied to other power generation sources such as fusion, thermal storage, solar, or high-temperature process heat.1–3
Timothy Ault, Steven Krahn, Andrew Worrall, Allen Croff
Nuclear Technology | Volume 204 | Number 1 | October 2018 | Pages 41-58
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1468702
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Certain characteristics of heavy water reactors (HWRs), such as a more flexible neutron economy compared to light water (due to reduced absorptions in hydrogen), online refueling capability, and having a thermal neutron spectrum, make them potentially attractive for use with a thorium fuel cycle. Three options that combine HWRs with thorium-based fuels are considered in this paper: a Near-Term option with minimal advanced technology requirements, an Actinide Management option that incorporates the recycle of minor actinides (MAs), and a Thorium-Only option that uses two reactor stages to breed and consume 233U, respectively. Simplified, steady-state simulations and corresponding material flow analyses are used to elucidate the properties of these fuel cycle options. The Near-Term option begins with a low-enriched uranium oxide pressurized water reactor (PWR) that discharges spent nuclear fuel, from which uranium and plutonium are recovered to fabricate the driver fuel for an HWR that uses thorium oxide as a blanket fuel. This option uses 28% less natural uranium (NU) and sends 33% less plutonium to disposal than the conventional once-through uranium fuel cycle on an energy-normalized basis. The Actinide Management option also uses spent nuclear fuel from a PWR using enriched uranium oxide fuel (both a low- and high-enrichment variant are considered), but the uranium is recycled for reuse in the PWR while the plutonium and MAs are recycled and used in conjunction with thorium in an HWR with full recycle. Both enrichment variants of this option achieve a more than 95% reduction in transuranic actinide disposal rates compared to the once-through option and a more than 60% reduction compared to closed transuranic recycle in a uranium-plutonium–fueled sodium fast reactor. The Thorium-Only option breeds a surplus of 233U in a thorium-based HWR to supply fissile material to a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor, both of which recycle uranium and thorium. This option requires no NU and produces few transuranic actinides at steady state, although it would require a greater technology maturation effort than the other options studied. Collectively, the options considered in this study are intended to illustrate the range of operational missions that could be supported by fleets that integrate thorium and HWRs.
