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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
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Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott Downtown
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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
Bing Hong, Yunqing Bai, Gang Xu, Xiaoliang Zou
Nuclear Technology | Volume 204 | Number 1 | October 2018 | Pages 66-73
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1464820
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Lithium is an attractive coolant for space nuclear reactors due to its good thermal properties and low density. The main objective of this study is to investigate the effect of coolant 6Li concentration on the neutronic parameters of the lithium-cooled space reactor, with the aim to provide an appropriate reference for the purification of lithium coolant and the safety of the lithium-cooled space reactor. The neutronic calculations based on the lithium-cooled reactor are performed using the SuperMC code with the ENDF/B-VII cross-section database. The effects of coolant 6Li concentration were studied over the range of 0 to 8.5 at. % as well as the corresponding effects on the depletion, helium production, neutron spectrum, and temperature reactivity coefficient. The results show that the 6Li concentration of 0.01 at. % in the lithium coolant is appropriate in the lithium-cooled reactor. In this case, the neutronic parameters including the depletion, helium production, and neutron spectrum showed no obvious change compared to that of the pure 7Li, and the coolant reactivity coefficient has a negative effect on reactivity.
