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Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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Latest News
Nuclear materials testing project brings U.S. and U.K. expertise together
As nations look to nuclear energy as a source of reliable electricity and heat, researchers and industry are developing a new generation of nuclear reactors to fill the need. These advanced nuclear reactors will provide safe, efficient, and economical power that go beyond what the current large light water reactors can do.
But before large-scale deployment of advanced reactors, researchers need to understand and test the safety and performance of the technologies—especially the coolants and materials—that make them possible.
Now, the United States and the United Kingdom have teamed up to test hundreds of advanced nuclear materials.
Ziping Liu, Yu Ji, Han Zhang, Jun Sun
Nuclear Technology | Volume 208 | Number 8 | August 2022 | Pages 1337-1351
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2022.2031498
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Composite materials are essential in various energy fields owing to their improved heat transfer characteristics. Due to their inhomogeneous structure, it is difficult to obtain the heat transfer details. Effective thermal conductivity (ETC) is an important lumped thermal parameter used to analyze the heat transfer process in composite materials. Existing ETC models are derived by applying a temperature difference (TD) on two opposite boundaries of the composite material to induce heat flow. However, for some composite materials, such as nuclear fuels, the effect of the inner heat source (IHS) is typically ignored. Thus, the suitability of using ETC models based on a TD scheme for composite materials with IHS still requires further investigation. In this study, first the conserved quantities of ETC of the TD and IHS schemes were determined. For normal materials of the TD scheme, the conserved quantity of ETC can be selected as heat flow, whereas for nuclear fuels of the IHS scheme, the average temperatures are recommended as the conserved quantity. Then the general ETC models for composite plate were derived considering both the TD and IHS schemes and special cases with either TD or IHS were also analyzed. Finally, based on the results of this study, the idea of studying the ETC of tristructural-isotropic or TRISO particle-based nuclear fuels is proposed.
