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
Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
Meeting Spotlight
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2023)
February 6–9, 2023
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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
Jan 2023
Jul 2022
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
February 2023
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
January 2023
Latest News
Nuclear energy: enabling production of food, fiber, hydrocarbon biofuels, and negative carbon emissions
In the 1960s, Alvin Weinberg at Oak Ridge National Laboratory initiated a series of studies on nuclear agro-industrial complexes1 to address the needs of the world’s growing population. Agriculture was a central component of these studies, as it must be. Much of the emphasis was on desalination of seawater to provide fresh water for irrigation of crops. Remarkable advances have lowered the cost of desalination to make that option viable in countries like Israel. Later studies2 asked the question, are there sufficient minerals (potassium, phosphorous, copper, nickel, etc.) to enable a prosperous global society assuming sufficient nuclear energy? The answer was a qualified “yes,” with the caveat that mineral resources will limit some technological options. These studies were defined by the characteristic of looking across agricultural and industrial sectors to address multiple challenges using nuclear energy.
Son H. Kim, Temitope A. Taiwo, Brent W. Dixon
Nuclear Technology | Volume 208 | Number 5 | May 2022 | Pages 775-793
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2021.1951554
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Nuclear power is currently the single largest carbon-free source of electricity in the United States. The climate mitigation cost savings of the existing U.S. nuclear fleet is denominated in hundreds of billions of dollars [net present value (NPV)] based on an integrated assessment modeling of the U.S. energy system within a globally consistent framework. Lifetime extensions of the existing nuclear fleet from 40 years to 60 and 100 years resulted in $330 billion to $500 billion (all figures are in U.S. dollars) (NPV) of mitigation cost savings for the United States under a deep decarbonization scenario consistent with limiting global temperature change to 2°C. The addition of new nuclear deployments in the United States increased the total U.S. mitigation cost savings of the 2°C climate goal by up to $750 billion (NPV). Immediate actions are required in the United States and globally to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by mid-century, and once achieving net-zero emissions, they must remain at net-zero indefinitely. Lifetime extensions of the existing nuclear fleet, in the United States and globally, support urgent near-term emissions reduction goals. Additionally, the longevity of nuclear power technologies reduces the need for new capacity additions of all carbon-free electricity sources and supports long-term actions necessary to maintain net-zero emissions.