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.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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
Jul 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
July 2025
Latest News
NRC approves V.C. Summer’s second license renewal
Dominion Energy’s V.C. Summer nuclear power plant, in Jenkinsville, S.C., has been authorized to operate for 80 years, until August 2062, following the renewal of its operating license by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a second time.
Tadas Kaliatka, Eugenijus Uspuras, Algirdas Kaliatka
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 72 | Number 2 | August 2017 | Pages 176-187
Technical Note | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2017.1320496
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An event of water coolant ingress into the vacuum vessel (VV) is one of the most important events leading to severe consequences in nuclear fusion reactors. The ingress of coolant to the VV could appear due to coolant pipe rupture of in-vessel components. Any damage of in-vessel components could lead to water ingress and may lead to pressure increase and possible damage of the VV. Therefore, it is important to understand thermohydraulic processes in the VV during the ingress of coolant event (ICE) to prevent overpressurization of the VV. This technical note updates the developed Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) model in accordance with the experience gained from the modeling of ICE experiments. Calculation results using the updated model are compared with the results obtained using an older model and the results of other researchers. The calculation results of the updated W7-X model show a much smaller pressure increase rate in the VV compared to the old model. In order to find the maximal area of partial break, which increases pressure in the VV but does not reach burst disk activation pressure (no steam release from the VV to the environment), the best-estimate approach is provided. The results of the analysis reveal that partial break using the updated W7-X model could be much bigger than what was considered before.