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
Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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
Mar 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
February 2024
Latest News
Can hydrogen be the transportation fuel in an otherwise nuclear economy?
Let’s face it: The global economy should be powered primarily by nuclear power. And it probably will by the end of this century, with a still-significant assist from renewables and hydro. Once nuclear systems are dominant, the costs come down to where gas is now; and when carbon emissions are reduced to a small portion of their present state, it will become obvious that most other sources are only good in niche settings. I mean, why use small modular reactors to load-follow when they can just produce that power instead of buffering it?
P. Zuidema, S. Vomvoris (Nagra)
Proceedings | 16th International High-Level Radioactive Waste Management Conference (IHLRWM 2017) | Charlotte, NC, April 9-13, 2017 | Pages 632-638
The Swiss site selection process for geological repositories is a stepwise approach defined by the ‘Sectoral Plan for Deep Geological Repositories’. The narrowing down process begins with the selection of broad geological siting regions (Stage 1). The evaluation of the various potential regions is performed on the basis of safety and engineering feasibility criteria explicitly defined in the Sectoral Plan. Stage 1 was completed in 2011 with the approval by the Federal Government of the three (for the HLW repository) and six (for the L/ILW repository) potential siting regions proposed by Nagra.
The narrowing-down process continued with Stage 2, the focus of which is the selection of at least two potential siting regions for each type of repository. Criteria addressing spatial planning and environmental aspects were also considered in this Stage for the siting of the surface facilities. Nagra's proposals were published in early 2015 and they are currently under review. It is expected that the authorities will conclude their review early 2017 and the Federal Government will issue its decision after broad consultation in 2018.
Stage 3 has as a goal the selection of one site for each type of repository. For each repository a general licence application will be submitted which must be approved by the government, ratified by parliament, and is subject to a facultative national referendum.
An overview of the methodology developed for Stage 2, its implementation and the selection of the proposed sites is presented in this paper.