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
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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
Jul 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Vogtle-3 shuts down for valve issue
One of the new Vogtle units in Georgia was shut down unexpectedly on Monday last week for a valve issue that has since been investigated and repaired. According to multiple local news outlets, Georgia Power reported on July 17 that Unit 3 was back in service.
Southern Company spokesperson Jacob Hawkins confirmed that Vogtle-3 went off line at 9:25 p.m. local time on July 8 “due to lowering water levels in the steam generators caused by a valve issue on one of the three main feedwater pumps.”
Terry Kammash, David L. Galbraith
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 12 | Number 1 | July 1987 | Pages 11-21
Technical Paper | Fusion Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/FST87-A25049
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A novel approach to fusion power that combines the favorable aspects of magnetic and inertial confinements has recently been proposed in the “magnetically insulated inertial confinement fusion” (MICF) reactor. In contrast to conventional inertial confinement schemes, this approach relies on generating the needed plasma inside of a spherical shell by zapping the inside surface of a hollow pellet with an intense laser beam. Physical confinement is provided by the metallic shell that surrounds the deuterium-tritium fuel-coated inner surface, while very strong, plasma-generated magnetic fields provide the desired thermal insulation of the plasma from the surrounding surface. Because of these unique properties, the inertial confinement time can be increased by about two orders of magnitude relative to that of conventional inertial confinement schemes, with the result that truly impressive energy multiplication factors can result. Carbon dioxide lasers of hundreds of kilojoules may be readily employed for such reactors, and, since they are relatively efficient and can be chemically driven, these systems lend themselves nicely to such space applications as space-based power sources or rocket propulsion. It is shown that MICF can be utilized as a reactor, producing power in the range of hundreds of kilowatts to tens of megawatts as deemed desirable for space-based power systems. It is also shown that as a rocket propulsion scheme it can produce specific impulses of 1000 s or more, which are required for deep space (and other) missions that cannot be addressed by chemical propulsion.