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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
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!
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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
NRC engineers share their expertise at the University of Puerto Rico
Robert Roche-Rivera and Marcos Rolón-Acevedo are licensed professional engineers who work at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. They are also alumni of the University of Puerto Rico–Mayagüez (UPRM) and have been sharing their knowledge and experience with students at their alma mater since last year, serving as adjunct professors in the university’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. During the 2023–2024 school year, they each taught two courses: Fundamentals of Nuclear Science and Engineering, and Nuclear Power Plant Engineering.
P. K. Sharma
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 65 | Number 1 | January 2014 | Pages 103-119
Lecture | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-639
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) system, which is a mature, robust, and reliable heating and current drive system in a large number of tokamaks, is designed, developed, and being commissioned on the steady-state superconducting tokamak (SST-1) for driving 220 kA of plasma current, noninductively, for 1000 s, at nominal plasma parameters (plasma density ∼2×1019 m−3, temperature ∼1 keV, toroidal magnetic field ∼3 T), using four 3.7-GHz, 500-kW continuous wave (cw) klystrons. It employs a conventional grill antenna to launch toroidal lower hybrid waves asymmetrically, with a parallel refractive index N∥ of approximately 2.25 at 90-deg relative phasing of adjacent channels. The system is very complex and requires interfacing with several subsystems such as high-power radio-frequency systems, high-voltage power supply systems, auxiliary power supply systems, efficient thermal management systems, complex networks of transmission line systems, and robust and reliable data acquisition and control systems. With the SST-1 LHCD system as a case study, this lecture gives a broad overview of the physics and design layout of LHCD systems. It addresses cutting-edge technologies employed in realizing the system and gives the present status and advances made for cw operation. The challenges and opportunities are also highlighted.