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 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2026
Nuclear Technology
March 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
A year in orbit: ISS deployment tests radiation detectors for future space missions
The predawn darkness on a cool Florida night was shattered by the ignition of nine Merlin engines on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The thrust of the engines shook the ground miles away. From a distance, the rocket appeared to slowly rise above the horizon. For the cargo onboard, the launch was anything but gentle, as the ignition of liquid oxygen generated more than 1.5 million pounds of force. After the rocket had been out of sight for several minutes, the booster dramatically returned to Earth with several sonic booms in a captivating show of engineering designed to make space travel less expensive and more sustainable.
Weishu Wang, Pengzhi Wang, Xiaojie Zheng
Nuclear Technology | Volume 211 | Number 6 | June 2025 | Pages 1185-1201
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2024.2385216
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The helical cruciform fuel rod is a new fuel design. Its advantages include a large surface area–to-volume ratio, short thermal conductivity distance, and no need for grid spacers. This new fuel rod can effectively improve the hydraulic performance of nuclear reactors. To study the performance of the helical cruciform fuel assembly, the subcooled boiling flow and heat transfer characteristics of this assembly are analyzed in the present work based on computational fluid dynamics. The results indicate that the temperature distribution of the central rod wall surface in the circumferential direction has inhomogeneity and periodicity. The fluid’s temperature and velocity distribution in the cross section are high in the center and low elsewhere, and the fuel rod’s torsional orientation is compatible with the velocity vector’s direction. The vapor volume fraction on the wall of the center rod of the fuel assembly is the highest, and the vapor volume fraction in the mainstream area is relatively low. This work provides a reference for further research on helical cruciform fuel assemblies in the thermal analysis of nuclear reactors.