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.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Jun 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
July 2026
Nuclear Technology
June 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2026
Latest News
DOE approves Xcimer’s laser fusion power plant design
The Department of Energy has approved Xcimer Energy's Athena fusion power plant preconceptual technical design. With this milestone achieved, the Denver, Colo.-based company is now moving forward with its plans to develop economical laser inertial confinement fusion using two beamlines, gas laser technology, and a molten salt fusion chamber.
The National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory demonstrated net energy gain from inertial confinement fusion in 2022 using solid-state glass lasers and 192 beamlines.
Afiqa Mohamad, Yutaka Udagawa
Nuclear Technology | Volume 210 | Number 2 | February 2024 | Pages 245-260
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2185061
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In the Power to Melt and Maneuverability (P2M) project, a simulation exercise on two past power ramp experiments, xM3 on a medium-burnup rod and HBC4 on a high-burnup rod, was performed with the fuel performance code FEMAXI-8 to investigate fuel behavior under high-power and high-temperature conditions toward centerline fuel melting. In order to treat fuel melting, empirical melting temperature models have been incorporated into the FEMAXI-8 code. The present analysis gives reasonable predictions not only on cladding deformation but also on the fuel melting behavior of the HBC4 rod in which the UO2 liquidus temperature was reached during the transient. On the other hand, model improvement appears to be needed for a more accurate treatment of the fuel melting behavior of the xM3 rod in which the fuel center temperature reached the solidus line, whereas it may have not reached the liquidus line. A reasonable agreement of estimated fission gas release (FGR) with the measurement suggested that the high-temperature FGR at the given conditions is essentially a temperature-dependent phenomenon rate limited primarily by thermally activated elementary processes, such as fission gas diffusion.