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Division Spotlight
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
Meeting Spotlight
2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott Downtown
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
Jun 2025
Jan 2025
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
July 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Smarter waste strategies: Helping deliver on the promise of advanced nuclear
At COP28, held in Dubai in 2023, a clear consensus emerged: Nuclear energy must be a cornerstone of the global clean energy transition. With electricity demand projected to soar as we decarbonize not just power but also industry, transport, and heat, the case for new nuclear is compelling. More than 20 countries committed to tripling global nuclear capacity by 2050. In the United States alone, the Department of Energy forecasts that the country’s current nuclear capacity could more than triple, adding 200 GW of new nuclear to the existing 95 GW by mid-century.
Jiaji He, Zach Hileman, Daniel Homa, Anbo Wang, Gary Pickrell (Virginia Tech), Alexander D. Braatz (ORNL), Brian Risch (Prysmian Group)
Proceedings | Nuclear Plant Instrumentation, Control, and Human-Machine Interface Technolgies (NPIC&HMIT 2019) | Orlando, FL, February 9-14, 2019 | Pages 238-245
Continuous and real time health monitoring of structural components has become of paramount importance in nuclear facilities to proactively address potential failures that result in the shutdown of operation and/or health and environmental. Subsequently, there has been an intense interest in fiber optic sensing technologies because of their relative tolerance to radiation exposure and elevated temperatures. Nonetheless, challenges remain prevalent with respect to reliability and cost. To address these concerns, while also taking advantage of the fiber optic materials, an acoustic based sensing technique has been developed to monitor phenomena such as temperature to better evaluate the aging and degradation of critical structures such as nuclear containment components, cable insulation, and metal pressure boundaries. Recently, a unique single mode acoustic waveguide design with strong power confinement and relatively low loss was demonstrated in an all-silica acoustic fiber. The “suspended core” acoustic waveguide consists of a pure silica glass core with an inner air cladding and outer silica cladding. In addition, a temperature sensor was demonstrated by monitoring the time of flight in the suspended core. The first-of-its-kind acoustic waveguide structure and sensor represents the first step in the development of a low-cost, reliable sensing system for the deployment of the fiber sensor arrays for the next generation of 3D network monitoring solutions.