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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.
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!
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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.
J. Richard Smith, John J. King
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 19 | Number 3 | May 1991 | Pages 1925-1930
Neutronic | Proceedings of the Ninth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Oak Brook, Illinois, October 7-11, 1990) | doi.org/10.13182/FST91-A29623
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Neutron multiplication occurs in beryllium because of the high (n, 2n) cross section. On the basis of calculations made using microscopic nuclear data, multiplication in a beryllium blanket should improve the efficiency of a tritium breeder. Previous experiments have indicated that the net multiplication is too low for beryllium to be an effective neutron multiplier. It seemed appropriate to make a further study of the multiplication of 14-MeV neutrons in bulk beryllium, utilizing the superior isotropy and flat energy response of the manganese bath. In the manganese bath method a 14-MeV neutron source is placed at the center of a large tank containing an aqueous solution of MnSO4. With a beryllium sample surrounding the neutron source in the sample chamber, the neutrons first multiply in beryllium and produce in the manganese bath an activity proportional to the source rate times the multiplication factor. The ratio of the “sample-in” and the “open beam” activities is the raw value of the multiplication. Several systematic corrections must then be applied to deduce the true multiplication in beryllium. Uncorrected values of the multiplication have been obtained for beryllium samples of four thicknesses. For beryllium thicknesses of 4.6, 12.0, 15.6, and 19.9 cm the multiplication values are 1.399, 1.928, 2.072, and 2.126, respectively. These values are affected by several systematic effects characteristic of the manganese bath. The values of these systematic corrections are established by a combination of calculation and experimental parameterization. The detailed calculations use the Monte Carlo program MCNP. The experimental values are in good agreement with those calculated from microscopic cross sections.
