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Division Spotlight
Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls
Improving task performance, system reliability, system and personnel safety, efficiency, and effectiveness are the division's main objectives. Its major areas of interest include task design, procedures, training, instrument and control layout and placement, stress control, anthropometrics, psychological input, and motivation.
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!
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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
Susan S. Voss
Nuclear Technology | Volume 206 | Number 8 | August 2020 | Pages 1097-1108
Critical Review | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2019.1706378
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Nuclear material nonproliferation and security issues have taken on even greater importance within the United States and internationally since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1990s and after the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001. Leadership in the United States has made weapons nuclear material security and nuclear material elimination and/or reduction a high national priority. For future National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) missions, the use of highly enriched uranium (HEU) in space nuclear reactors and propulsion systems may be enabling for certain missions, and therefore, it is important that it remain an available option within the context of U.S. nonproliferation policy. This critical review provides an overview of U.S. nonproliferation policy on the use of HEU in nuclear reactor systems for the three primary users of HEU: U.S. Navy, domestic and international civilian research and test reactors, and future NASA missions. In general, U.S. nonproliferation policy is based on a risk versus benefits approach. Nuclear security is a key aspect of nuclear nonproliferation and within the field of space nuclear reactors. Nuclear security requirements and implementation procedures are well established for all phases of nuclear design, manufacturing, transportation, and testing programs. The only time that nuclear material may be outside of direct physical control and security would be during operation in deep space or a planetary surface mission or due to an accidental reentry of a space nuclear reactor during launch or postoperation from low earth orbit. Safety and security options for accidental low-probability reentry events are discussed.