Fusion Science and Technology -- ANS / Publications / Journals / Fusion Science and Technology

About ANS
- ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
About Nuclear
- Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Communities
- Division Spotlight
  Thermal Hydraulics
  The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
Events
- Meeting Spotlight
  ANS Student Conference 2025
  April 3–5, 2025
  Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
Standards
- 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!
Publications
- Latest Magazine Issues
  Apr 2025
  Jan 2025
  Latest Journal Issues
  Nuclear Science and Engineering
  May 2025
  Nuclear Technology
  April 2025
  Fusion Science and Technology
  April 2025
- Latest News
  General Kenneth Nichols and the Manhattan Project
  Nichols
  The Oak Ridger has published the latest in a series of articles about General Kenneth D. Nichols, the Manhattan Project, and the 1954 Atomic Energy Act. The series has been produced by Nichols’ grandniece Barbara Rogers Scollin and Oak Ridge (Tenn.) city historian David Ray Smith. Gen. Nichols (1907–2000) was the district engineer for the Manhattan Engineer District during the Manhattan Project.
  As Smith and Scollin explain, Nichols “had supervision of the research and development connected with, and the design, construction, and operation of, all plants required to produce plutonium-239 and uranium-235, including the construction of the towns of Oak Ridge, Tennessee, and Richland, Washington. The responsibility of his position was massive as he oversaw a workforce of both military and civilian personnel of approximately 125,000; his Oak Ridge office became the center of the wartime atomic energy’s activities.”
Search

Defining a methodology for a reliability estimate of the International Tokamak Experimental Reactor (ITER) divertor is the objective of the study summarized in this paper. If ITER could be designed such that no transients of any type occurred, the divertor reliability would be controlled by erosion of material during normal operation. The occurrence of several transient events results in important contribution to the expected divertor failure rate. Some transients cause the temperature in the divertor plate (DP) to rise; if these temperatures get too high, the structural elements in the DP will weaken and subsequently suffer structural failure and possibly reach the melting temperature. Using the limited data available leads to the result that there is a high probability that the DP will reliably withstand a peak heat flux of 11 MW/m². However, transient events will lead to a much shorter lifetime than desirable for DP's, mainly due to the expected severe effects of plasma disruptions. If transients occurred, but the shutdown mechanism succeeded to perform without inducing a disruption, divertor reliability could be significantly improved. Improved characterization of the disruption conditions, and enlarged scope of failure modes should be pursued to gain confidence in the present conclusions.