ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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Division Spotlight
Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
Meeting Spotlight
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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
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.
J. Galambos, C. Baker, Y-K. M. Peng, D. Cohn, M. Chaniotakis, L. Bromberg, S. O. Dean
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 21 | Number 3 | May 1992 | Pages 1759-1764
Magnetic Fusion Reactor and Systems Studies | doi.org/10.13182/FST92-A29975
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The TETRA systems code is used to examine devices with both normal copper and superconducting coils as vehicles for steady-state production of fusion power in a Pilot Plant. If the constraints of plasma ignition and net electrical power production are dropped, such devices are much smaller and less expensive than ITER-like devices. For wall loads near 0.5 MW/m2 with nominal ITER physics guidelines, devices with copper coils have major radii R near 2 m and direct costs near 1 × 109 $, while devices with superconducting coils have R = 4.1 m and costs of 2.4 × 109 $. However, the copper-coil devices have the burden of hundreds of megawatts of resistive power losses. All cases tend towards high aspect ratio (A > 4), high fields, and low current. The situation improves for the superconducting-coil cases if higher beta limits are permissible, whereas the copper-coil cases see less benefit from higher beta limits.