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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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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Fusion Science and Technology
May 2025
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.
Ikuji Takagi, Kouta Kodama,* Kazuo Shin, Kunio Higashi, Hideki Zushi, Tohru Mizuuchi, Tohru Senjyu, Masahiro Wakatani, Tokuhiro Obiki
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 25 | Number 2 | March 1994 | Pages 137-146
Technical Paper | First-Wall Technology | doi.org/10.13182/FST94-A30263
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Two experiments on the plasma-driven permeation (PDP) of deuterium through nickel membranes were conducted. One was an observation of the permeation during the discharge cleaning of Heliotron E, one of the largest helical systems. Significant amounts of deuterium permeated. The deuterium permeation was also observed during a helium discharge, where deuterium recycled between the plasma and chamber walls. Because the permeation was strongly influenced by impurities such as oxygen on the plasma-facing surface of the membrane, the PDP would be useful for a diagnosis of the discharge cleaning. The second experiment was a study on transient behaviors of the permeation when nickel membranes were exposed to a deuterium plasma for short times. The small device with a radio-frequency plasma was used to simulate pulse operations of large plasma devices. The maximum permeation flux at the nonsteady state was found to be nearly proportional to the exposure time of the plasma. Numerical calculations reproduced very well the transient behaviors of the deuterium permeation in the pulse-exposure experiments. Based on the results of the two experiments, it is expected that the deuterium PDP from neutral beam injection-heated plasmas in Heliotron E will be observed.