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
Young Members Group
The Young Members Group works to encourage and enable all young professional members to be actively involved in the efforts and endeavors of the Society at all levels (Professional Divisions, ANS Governance, Local Sections, etc.) as they transition from the role of a student to the role of a professional. It sponsors non-technical workshops and meetings that provide professional development and networking opportunities for young professionals, collaborates with other Divisions and Groups in developing technical and non-technical content for topical and national meetings, encourages its members to participate in the activities of the Groups and Divisions that are closely related to their professional interests as well as in their local sections, introduces young members to the rules and governance structure of the Society, and nominates young professionals for awards and leadership opportunities available to members.
Meeting Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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
Jun 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2025
Nuclear Technology
July 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Hinkley Point C gets over $6 billion in financing from Apollo
U.S.-based private capital group Apollo Global has committed £4.5 billion ($6.13 billion) in financing to EDF Energy, primarily to support the U.K.’s Hinkley Point C station. The move addresses funding needs left unmet since China General Nuclear Power Corporation—which originally planned to pay for one-third of the project—exited in 2023 amid U.K. government efforts to reduce Chinese involvement.
Rohan Puri, George H. Miley, Erik P. Ziehm, Raul Patino, Raad Najam
Nuclear Technology | Volume 208 | Number 1 | December 2022 | Pages S85-S95
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2022.2055702
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Helicon Injected Inertial Plasma Electrostatic Rocket (HIIPER) is a space propulsion system developed at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The HIIPER couples a helicon tube with an inertial electrostatic confinement (IEC) fusion system. Its operating principle involves a helicon ionization stage followed by an electrostatic grid (IEC cathode grid) extraction stage. The helicon setup used in the HIIPER is modified to include a helicon bias grid at the upstream end of the tube. This grid is applied with a positive direct-current voltage to increase the plasma potential and the most probable ion energy of the plasma injected into the IEC fusion chamber. The IEC cathode grid in the HIIPER uses an innovative asymmetric design, graphically depicted through a computational model, that ejects a stream of electrons that accelerate the exhaust ions and simultaneously neutralize the exhaust jet. The model is also used to plot ion trajectories inside the HIIPER to identify any wall collision losses. A separate numerical study was undertaken to show augmentation of plasma kinetic energy on adding a magnetic nozzle as the final propulsion stage of the HIIPER. Experimental results were used to establish a relation between the input parameters and the ion density of the resulting plasma. Langmuir probe measurements were performed at two locations to validate corresponding computational results, indicating ion losses due to ion-wall collisions inside the helicon-IEC coupling. The results in this study add to the proof of concept of the HIIPER and allow for designing an upgrade of the propulsion system. Increasing thrust while maintaining plasma densities between 1017 and 1018 throughout the system is the current aim of HIIPER research. This study summarizes the various performance parameters of the propulsion system, along with a discussion of ongoing research and future scope.
