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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.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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!
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Latest News
First astatine-labeled compound shipped in the U.S.
The Department of Energy’s National Isotope Development Center (NIDC) on March 31 announced the successful long-distance shipment in the United States of a biologically active compound labeled with the medical radioisotope astatine-211 (At-211). Because previous shipments have included only the “bare” isotope, the NIDC has described the development as “unleashing medical innovation.”
Ihor O. Bohachevsky
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 2 | Number 1 | January 1982 | Pages 110-119
Technical Paper | ICF Chamber Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST82-A20741
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Many inertial confinement fusion reactors will employ liquid lithium to breed tritium, to remove heat from reactor vessels, and to protect the interior walls of the vessel. Heat loads on the liquid lithium will consist of intense pulses that are short in comparison to hydrodynamic and thermal relaxation times and therefore will generate pressure pulses and/or pressure waves. The generation process is investigated analytically and numerically. Analytic solutions are derived for liquid blankets with thicknesses comparable to the neutron energy deposition depth contained between two structural shells and for free surface layers with thicknesses much smaller than the depth of neutron energy deposition. Results indicate that the amplitudes of the neutron-generated pressure waves are comparable to the mean pressure rise that would be obtained if the energy were deposited so slowly and uniformly that the waves did not develop. Numerically investigated are pressure pulses in lithium layers, which are initially at the vapor pressure. Results indicate that rapid heating occurs at constant specific volume (isochorically) and therefore results in a sharp and intense pressure rise. However, the resulting pressure wave dissipates after propagating only a few millimetres through the layer if the lithium contains any fraction of the vapor phase.