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
Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver 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
Apr 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2025
Latest News
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
M. Shoji, S. Masuzaki, M. Kobayashi, M. Goto, T. Morisaki, H. Yamada, A. Komori, A. Iwamae, A. Sakaue, LHD Experiment Group
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 58 | Number 1 | July-August 2010 | Pages 208-219
Chapter 5. Divertor and Edge Physics | Special Issue on Large Helical Device (LHD) | doi.org/10.13182/FST10-04
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The function of the divertor plasmas on the particle control in the plasma periphery is investigated from viewpoints of magnetic field line structures and neutral particle transport in the Large Helical Device (LHD). It shows that the particle and heat deposition on the divertor plate arrays are qualitatively explained by the distribution of strike points calculated by magnetic field line tracing including a particle diffusion effect. Control of neutral particle fueling from the divertor plates is a critical issue for sustaining long-pulse discharges and achieving superdense core plasmas. The behavior of neutral particles in the plasma periphery has been investigated by H emission measurements and a neutral particle transport simulation. It reveals that gas fueling from the toroidally distributed divertor plates heated by protons accelerated by ion cyclotron resonance frequency wave is necessary for explaining measurements in a long-pulse discharge, and the spatial profile of the neutral particle density in the plasma periphery in various magnetic configurations is explained by the strike point distribution. Based on these analyses, a closed helical divertor configuration optimized for the intrinsic magnetic field line structure in the plasma periphery is proposed for efficient particle control and heat load reduction on the divertor plates.
