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
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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
Sep 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
October 2025
Nuclear Technology
September 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
High temperature fission chambers engineered for AMR/SMR safety and performance
As the global energy landscape shifts towards safer, smaller, and more flexible nuclear power, Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and Gen. IV* technologies are at the forefront of innovation. These advanced designs pose new challenges in size, efficiency, and operating environment that traditional instrumentation and control solutions aren’t always designed to handle.
William C. Tucker, Piyas Chowdhury, Lauren J. Abbott, Justin B. Haskins
Nuclear Technology | Volume 207 | Number 6 | June 2021 | Pages 825-835
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2020.1850162
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The development and qualification of nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) fuel element technologies would be aided by an in-depth model of material response and failure modes at operating conditions. Integrated computational materials engineering techniques have the potential to provide such a model, as demonstrated here through three case studies focused on a tungsten–uranium mononitride (UN) cermet fuel. The first case focuses on the erosion of tungsten (also named wolfram), a nominal coating/cladding and fuel element matrix material, in hot hydrogen. Ab initio techniques are used to calculate erosion rates and thermal expansion at NTP operating conditions. The second focuses on the stability of UN fuels at high temperature and in the presence of hydrogen. Phase diagram techniques augmented with ab initio thermodynamic data reveal potential instabilities and decomposition pathways at high hydrogen concentrations. The third focuses on using microstructure information to predict high-temperature mechanical response and failure of tungsten. Combined finite element and discrete dislocation dynamics techniques provide mechanical properties in agreement with experimental methods. The integration of these techniques for an all-encompassing material model is discussed.