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Decommissioning & Environmental Sciences
The mission of the Decommissioning and Environmental Sciences (DES) Division is to promote the development and use of those skills and technologies associated with the use of nuclear energy and the optimal management and stewardship of the environment, sustainable development, decommissioning, remediation, reutilization, and long-term surveillance and maintenance of nuclear-related installations, and sites. The target audience for this effort is the membership of the Division, the Society, and the public at large.
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Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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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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Christmas Night
Twas the night before Christmas when all through the houseNo electrons were flowing through even my mouse.
All devices were plugged in by the chimney with careWith the hope that St. Nikola Tesla would share.
Mark T. Paffett, R. Scott Willms, Charles A. Gentile, Charles H. Skinner
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 41 | Number 3 | May 2002 | Pages 934-938
Material Interaction and Permeation | Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Tritium Science and Technology Tsukuba, Japan November 12-16, 2001 | doi.org/10.13182/FST02-A22722
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Surface characterization studies were performed on graphite tiles used as first wall materials during DT operation of the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. These ex situ analysis studies revealed a number of interesting and unexpected features. In this work we examined the spatial and (where possible) the depth distribution of impurity species deposited onto the plasma facing surfaces using X-ray Photo-electron Spectroscopy (XPS) and Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS). This work determined that beyond the predominant species of carbon and oxygen, common impurities included silicon, boron, lithium and sulfur. Oxygen content in the plasma facing tile surfaces ranged from 20 to 50 atomic percent [excluding H-isotopes], clearly indicating an extensive zone of oxidized carbon. By contrast, carbon tile surfaces not exposed to the plasma have surface oxygen contents ranging from 2 to 6 atomic percent. Analytical measurements of the secondary impurities (B, Li, Si, S) levels were on the order of 1–4 atomic percent, (boron and lithium were injected for wall conditioning in TFTR.) The core level binding energies of these impurity species were consistent with the presence of common oxides or hydroxides (e.g., BxOy, Li2O, LiOH, Silicates). XPS measurements performed in concert with depth profiling indicated that the tile oxidized zone was significantly deeper than 1 micrometer into the (averaged) surface. Surface analytical results clearly indicate that plasma operations clearly redeposit injected impurities (Li, B) and the depth profiles and distributions of the hydrogen isotopes may be impactedand/or influenced by this deposition process.An attempt at determining hydrogen isotope concentration distributions was made using positive ion SIMS. Specific regions of some surfaces clearly indicated the presence of m/z=3 (HD, T) and m/z=15 (CH3, CHD, CT). Preliminary data examination using positive ion SIMS examination indicates that these mass markers are substantially higher in the near surface region when compared with spectra recorded deeper in the surface region. The deuterium and tritium concentrations were; however, sufficiently low or compromised bycommon isobaric interferencesthat accurate isotopic distributions using SIMS were not possible. These findings are in agreement with results reported by others. [Morimoto et al, Sun et al, reference 3 Haasz et al]