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.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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
Dec 2025
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
January 2026
Nuclear Technology
December 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
November 2025
Latest News
What’s the most difficult question you’ve been asked as a maintenance instructor?
Blye Widmar
"Where are the prints?!"
This was the final question in an onslaught of verbal feedback, comments, and critiques I received from my students back in 2019. I had two years of instructor experience and was teaching a class that had been meticulously rehearsed in preparation for an accreditation visit. I knew the training material well and transferred that knowledge effectively enough for all the students to pass the class. As we wrapped up, I asked the students how they felt about my first big system-level class, and they did not hold back.
“Why was the exam from memory when we don’t work from memory in the plant?” “Why didn’t we refer to the vendor documents?” “Why didn’t we practice more on the mock-up?” And so on.
Helen Winberg-Wang
Nuclear Technology | Volume 204 | Number 2 | November 2018 | Pages 184-194
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2018.1469348
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Diffusion experiments under stagnant conditions in a constant aperture and a variable aperture slot were made to obtain data for simulation of simultaneous flow and diffusion in fractures. This approach was necessitated by the need to avoid buoyancy-induced flow caused by density differences generated by the presence of a tracer. For this purpose, to avoid flow but negligibly influence diffusion the slots were filled with agar, which generates a 99% porous matrix, which negligibly affects diffusion but essentially stops flow. A simple photographic technique was used to follow diffusion and to determine the aperture distribution on the variable aperture slot. With the obtained data, numerical simulations were performed to illustrate how a solute diffuses from a source into the water seeping past. The results support the simple analytical solution that has been used to determine the escape of radionuclides from a damaged canister containing spent nuclear fuel in a geologic repository in fractured rock.