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
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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
Aug 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2025
Latest News
Powering the future: How the DOE is fueling nuclear fuel cycle research and development
As global interest in nuclear energy surges, the United States must remain at the forefront of research and development to ensure national energy security, advance nuclear technologies, and promote international cooperation on safety and nonproliferation. A crucial step in achieving this is analyzing how funding and resources are allocated to better understand how to direct future research and development. The Department of Energy has spearheaded this effort by funding hundreds of research projects across the country through the Nuclear Energy University Program (NEUP). This initiative has empowered dozens of universities to collaborate toward a nuclear-friendly future.
F. Franceschini (Westinghouse), G. Grasso (ENEA), P. Ferroni (Westinghouse)
Proceedings | 2018 International Congress on Advances in Nuclear Power Plants (ICAPP 2018) | Charlotte, NC, April 8-11, 2018 | Pages 137-142
A companion paper at this conference (Ref. 1) describes the Westinghouse LFR, a Generation IV, ultra-compact, highly simplified, passively safe, scalable reactor plant with economics, safety, and scalability as the key elements informing its design. Traditionally, engineering decisions have made the plant more or less safe with an inverse relationship between cost and safety. The LFR breaks this paradigm with design choices aiming at a safer plant while improving economics. The fuel selection is a case in point, as elucidated by this study which illustrates the potential of various fuels to meet various core design objectives and fuel cost metrics. In particular, it is shown that uranium nitride (UN) is the favorite fuel option for the LFR. Metal fuel (U-10Zr) is a suitable alternative, especially for the startup core given the more significant experience in the U.S. which would likely accelerate its qualification relative to UN. This study shows that UN is superior to uranium silicide (U3Si2) with a comfortable margin in the breakeven cost for 15N enrichment. All advanced fuel candidates have significantly superior fuel cycle cost (FCC) performance relative to UO2 and are particularly suitable options for extending the fuel cycle length.