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NN Asks: What hurdles stand in the way of nuclear power’s global expansion?
Jake Jurewicz
Nuclear technology is mature. It provides firm power at scale with minimal externalities and has done so for decades. The core problem isn’t about the technology—it is how the plants are built. Nuclear construction has a well-documented history of cost and schedule overruns. Previous nuclear plants often spent more than twice what was first budgeted, making nuclear among the power technologies with the largest average cost overruns worldwide.
Recent projects illustrate how severe the problem can be. In South Carolina, the V.C. Summer nuclear expansion saw projected costs rise from roughly $10 billion to more than $25 billion before the project was abandoned in 2017, by which time more than $9 billion had already been spent and customers were stuck paying for a site they have yet to benefit from.
Jung-Kun Lee, Sumin Bae, Sajib A. Dahr
Nuclear Technology | Volume 210 | Number 4 | April 2024 | Pages 772-780
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2023.2277027
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Lead-cooled fast reactor (LFR) technology offers technical benefits such as high temperature operation, virtually no loss of coolant accidents, and operation at atmospheric pressure. Liquid lead is nonreactive with air and water, has a high boiling point, poor neutron absorption, and excellent heat transfer properties. Regardless of substantial advantages, the corrosive nature of liquid lead is a critical challenge in implementing LFR technology. This problem is especially pronounced at higher temperatures (>500°C). These issues have motivated research on materials and sensing capabilities in liquid lead. The University of Pittsburgh has developed a pool-type materials testing facility in international collaboration with universities, national labs, and industry. This new facility is a complement to existing loop-type facilities by being able to confirm corrosion testing results at high temperatures and higher coolant velocities, as well as by providing a large open volume of liquid lead to allow for the versatile testing of sensing instruments. In the design and manufacturing of the new facility, several important factors, such as temperature, oxygen concentration, and fluid velocity, were carefully considered. Successful running of the new testing facility will help industry demonstrate the reliability of structural materials and sensing instruments for LFRs.