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Young Members Group
The Young Members Group works to encourage and enable all young professional members to be actively involved in the efforts and endeavors of the Society at all levels (Professional Divisions, ANS Governance, Local Sections, etc.) as they transition from the role of a student to the role of a professional. It sponsors non-technical workshops and meetings that provide professional development and networking opportunities for young professionals, collaborates with other Divisions and Groups in developing technical and non-technical content for topical and national meetings, encourages its members to participate in the activities of the Groups and Divisions that are closely related to their professional interests as well as in their local sections, introduces young members to the rules and governance structure of the Society, and nominates young professionals for awards and leadership opportunities available to members.
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
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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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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
TerraPower begins U.K. regulatory approval process
Seattle-based TerraPower signaled its interest this week in building its Natrium small modular reactor in the United Kingdom, the company announced.
TerraPower sent a letter to the U.K.’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, formally establishing its intention to enter the U.K. generic design assessment (GDA) process. This is TerraPower’s first step in deployment of its Natrium technology—a 345-MW sodium fast reactor coupled with a molten salt energy storage unit—on the international stage.
Farrokh Najmabadi, Robert W. Conn
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 7 | Number 1 | January 1985 | Pages 57-65
Technical Paper | Plasma Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST85-A24518
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The operation of a tandem mirror reactor (TMR) at fractions of full power is an important part of the power plant operation. It has been shown that fractional power operation can best be achieved by controlling the plasma radius, leaving the rest of plasma parameters unchanged. The physics of magnetic confinement in a TMR can be used to design the desired radius control (RC) system. It is proposed to bias the field lines through the ends of a tandem mirror device and control the radial electric field in order to guard against rotational instabilities and ensure nonstochastic radial transport. In this scheme, plasma on the unbiased field lines suffers rapid transport and is lost. As such, the potential control of the direct converter plates as well as the location of the grounded halo dumps requires the flux tube containing the core plasma to match the direct converter area at all times. Based on this effect, an RC system can be devised that uses the conservation of the magnetic flux to adjust the field near the direct converter such that a flux tube with a smaller radius in the device matches the direct converter. Field lines outside this flux tube are not properly biased and cannot support core plasma. A practical design of such an RC system for the Mirror Advanced Reactor Study conceptual TMR is presented. The power consumption by the RC coil system is modest and no engineering difficulty in the design and construction of such a system is expected. Utilization of such an RC system in advanced tandem mirror experiments can also be of great use in the study of such various phenomena as radial transport, control of the radial electric field, halo plasma production, radio-frequency absorption, etc.