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
Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy
The mission of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Policy Division (NNPD) is to promote the peaceful use of nuclear technology while simultaneously preventing the diversion and misuse of nuclear material and technology through appropriate safeguards and security, and promotion of nuclear nonproliferation policies. To achieve this mission, the objectives of the NNPD are to: Promote policy that discourages the proliferation of nuclear technology and material to inappropriate entities. Provide information to ANS members, the technical community at large, opinion leaders, and decision makers to improve their understanding of nuclear nonproliferation issues. Become a recognized technical resource on nuclear nonproliferation, safeguards, and security issues. Serve as the integration and coordination body for nuclear nonproliferation activities for the ANS. Work cooperatively with other ANS divisions to achieve these objective nonproliferation policies.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Jan 2025
Jul 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
February 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Fermilab center renamed after late particle physicist Helen Edwards
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory’s Integrated Engineering Research Center, which officially opened in January 2024, is now known as the Helen Edwards Engineering Center. The name was changed to honor the late particle physicist who led the design, construction, commissioning, and operation of the lab’s Tevatron accelerator and was part of the Water Resources Development Act signed by President Biden in December 2024, according to a Fermilab press release.
R. Albanese, M. De Magistris, R. Fresa, F. Maviglia, S. Minucci
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 68 | Number 4 | November 2015 | Pages 741-749
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST15-127
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
We consider the problem of the accurate tracing of long magnetic field lines in tokamaks, which is in general crucial for the determination of the plasma boundary as well as for the magnetic properties of the scrape-off layer. Accurate field line tracing is strictly related to basic properties of ordinary differential equation (ODE) integrators, in terms of preservation of invariant properties and local accuracy for long-term analysis. We introduce and discuss some assessment criteria and a procedure for the specific problem, using them to compare standard ODE solvers with a volume-preserving algorithm for given accuracy requirements. In particular, after the validation for an axisymmetric plasma, a three-dimensional (3-D) configuration is described by means of Clebsch potentials, which provide analytical invariants for assessing the accuracy of the numerical integration. A standard fourth-order Runge-Kutta routine at fixed step is well suited to the problem in terms of reduced computational burden, with extremely good results for accuracy and volume preservation. Then we tackle the problem of field line tracing in the determination of plasma-wall gaps for a 3-D configuration, demonstrating the effective feasibility of the plasma boundary evaluation in tokamaks by tracing field lines with standard tools.