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
Education, Training & Workforce Development
The Education, Training & Workforce Development Division provides communication among the academic, industrial, and governmental communities through the exchange of views and information on matters related to education, training and workforce development in nuclear and radiological science, engineering, and technology. Industry leaders, education and training professionals, and interested students work together through Society-sponsored meetings and publications, to enrich their professional development, to educate the general public, and to advance nuclear and radiological science and engineering.
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.
Gerald P. Jackson
Nuclear Technology | Volume 208 | Number 1 | December 2022 | Pages S107-S112
Technical Note | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2021.1997057
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Low-mass antimatter-based propulsion systems are well matched to low-mass unmanned spacecraft sent to explore exoplanets and transmit back scientific observations. In the case of nearby habitable-zone exoplanet Proxima b, flyby missions as short as 20 years are being contemplated. In order to achieve spacecraft velocities greater than 2% of the speed of light, exhaust particle velocities commensurate with kinetic energies of at least 1 MeV/nucleon are required. The design of a nuclear propulsion system capable of such particle energies is presented. The scope of this technical note is restricted to the nuclear physics of antiproton-induced fission, classical physics of collimating charged exhaust particles, and the accelerator physics of a particle trap within which the fission events are generated. Other vital issues such as antimatter production and storage are the subject of papers in other journals more appropriate for these subjects.
