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Division Spotlight
Materials Science & Technology
The objectives of MSTD are: promote the advancement of materials science in Nuclear Science Technology; support the multidisciplines which constitute it; encourage research by providing a forum for the presentation, exchange, and documentation of relevant information; promote the interaction and communication among its members; and recognize and reward its members for significant contributions to the field of materials science in nuclear technology.
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Vogtle-3 shuts down for valve issue
One of the new Vogtle units in Georgia was shut down unexpectedly on Monday last week for a valve issue that has since been investigated and repaired. According to multiple local news outlets, Georgia Power reported on July 17 that Unit 3 was back in service.
Southern Company spokesperson Jacob Hawkins confirmed that Vogtle-3 went off line at 9:25 p.m. local time on July 8 “due to lowering water levels in the steam generators caused by a valve issue on one of the three main feedwater pumps.”
Steven E. Jones
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 8 | Number 1 | July 1985 | Pages 1511-1521
Muon-Catalyzed Fusion Engineering Review | Proceedings of the Sixth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (San Francisco, California, March 3-7, 1985) | doi.org/10.13182/FST85-A39980
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Negative muons (elementary particles having a mean life of 2.2 microseconds) have been used to induce nuclear fusion reactions of the type: Behaving like a very heavy electron, a muon forms a tightly bound deuteron-triton-muon (dtµ) molecule. Fusion then ensues, typically in picoseconds, as the nuclei tunnel through the Coulomb repulsive barrier. Up to 160 fusions per muon (average) have been observed in cold deuterium-tritium mixtures. Thus, the process may be called muon-catalyzed fusion, or “cold” fusion. The fusion energy thus released is twenty times the total energy of the muon driving the fusion reaction. However, the energy needed to produce the muon catalysts is currently much larger than the fusion energy released. In preparing for muon-catalyzed fusion experiments, a number of engineering challenges were encountered and successfully resolved. Similar challenges would be faced in a (hypothetical) cold fusion reactor. High-temperature plasmas and many associated difficulties are of course circumvented. However, the gaseous d-t fuel must be contained at elevated temperatures (∼400°C) and near-liquid density. (Experiments show that increasing either parameter enhances the fusion yield.) This translates into high gas pressures (∼108Pa) and a new class of engineering challenges. Material strength and fabricability, hydrogen permeation and material embrittlement, tritium inventory and safety concerns, muon beam scattering and degradation, and reaction vessel geometries are among critical engineering considerations.