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
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
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
Feb 2023
Jul 2022
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
February 2023
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
University of Florida-led consortium to research nuclear forensics
A 16-university team of 31 scientists and engineers, under the title Consortium for Nuclear Forensics and led by the University of Florida, has been selected by the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to develop the next generation of new technologies and insights in nuclear forensics.
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.
