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.
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
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
May 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
July 2025
Nuclear Technology
June 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
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
Jie Wang, Yanan Li, Yongfeng Wang, Taosheng Li, Zaodi Zhang
Nuclear Technology | Volume 205 | Number 7 | July 2019 | Pages 978-986
Regular Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2019.1575122
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A fast neutron radiography (FNR) system based on the high-intensity deuterium-tritium (D-T) fusion generator (HINEG) facility, which employs a high-intensity D-T fusion generator, was designed. To determine the optimal design of the FNR system, the influence of key parameters [the scattered neutron ratio ns (ratio of scattered neutrons and total neutrons at image detection system), collimator ratio L/D, distance between the sample and image detector t, and sample thickness d] on the spatial resolution and image contrast of the system was analyzed using the FLUKA code. The design parameters were optimized to reduce scattering and thus ensure better spatial resolution. The FNR system was constructed for HINEG according to the optimal design parameters, and FNR experiments were conducted to validate the simulation results and evaluate the actual spatial resolution. The experimental results showed that the spatial resolution of this FNR system is approximately 0.5 mm, which is in agreement with the calculation results.
