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
Robotics & Remote Systems
The Mission of the Robotics and Remote Systems Division is to promote the development and application of immersive simulation, robotics, and remote systems for hazardous environments for the purpose of reducing hazardous exposure to individuals, reducing environmental hazards and reducing the cost of performing work.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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
Apr 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2025
Latest News
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
Jonathan Scherr, Pavel Tsvetkov
Nuclear Technology | Volume 209 | Number 11 | November 2023 | Pages 1733-1746
Regular Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2209229
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Abilene Christian University (ACU) is developing a 1-MW(thermal) molten salt research reactor that will be built on the ACU campus. A conceptual reactor core model was developed to facilitate the safety analysis required for a construction permit. A series of scoping studies were performed seeking to define the reactor core design parameters subject to a variety of design requirements. A Pareto curve identifying the tradeoff between uranium and LiF-BeF2 was determined. Within this curve, at least 250 kg of uranium and 700 kg of LiF-BeF2 are needed, albeit for different reactor configurations and fuel salt compositions. The cylindrical reactor vessel associated with the best-performing fuel salt composition is ~130 cm in diameter, ~170 cm tall, and contains ~2.5 tons of graphite. The conversion ratio of the reactor is low and will require regular refueling. The shift in neutron spectrum observed with the changing fuel salt composition does not significantly impact reactivity loss with respect to burnup.