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Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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2024 ANS Winter Conference and Expo
November 17–21, 2024
Orlando, FL|Renaissance Orlando at SeaWorld
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
August 2024
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Nuclear new build procurement considerations
It may seem counterintuitive, but the best time to enhance the ability to support operations and maintenance for a new plant is before construction starts. This is one of many lessons learned by the currently operating nuclear fleet. As construction and startup of many nuclear facilities was completed, it quickly became evident that the ability to efficiently support operations and maintenance was limited. Most of the information necessary to establish and manage procurement of spare and replacement items, maintenance, and configuration of the facilities was unavailable and had to be gathered on a case-by-case, “on-demand” basis. Absence of necessary information and the associated challenges resulted in the need for staff augmentation and multiyear-long projects to develop equipment bills of material and maintenance programs and to perform technical evaluations for the huge quantities of spare and replacement items being requested.
Ethan Coffey, Greg Hanson, David Hill, Timothy Jones, Arnold Lumsdaine, Claire Luttrell, Chuck Schaich
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 72 | Number 3 | October 2017 | Pages 505-509
Technical Note | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2017.1333857
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The ITER Electron Cyclotron Heating (ECH) system provides 20 MW of microwave power from 24 gyrotron sources. The power is transmitted through evacuated, corrugated waveguide transmission lines. The aluminum waveguide is cooled by the attachment of water-cooled copper tubes. These are connected through a conductive graphite foil that is used to increase the heat transfer ability between the aluminum and copper. In the regions where the waveguide is joined to a miter bend or to another waveguide section via a coupling, the waveguide cannot be actively cooled due to coupling hardware. Waveguide sections near couplings and miter bends are modeled and subjected to heat loads based on ITER design specifications. The thermal analysis predicts the maximum waveguide temperature in these regions and the amount of axial thermal expansion of the waveguide.
In addition, testing is done to determine the thermal contact conductance (TCC) between copper and aluminum surfaces with and without several candidate thermal contact materials. These results are used in the finite element analysis to model the ability to transfer heat across interfaces. The TCC test results make it clear that there is significant heat transfer between separate components, as the TCC between components is greater than 5 kW/m2K without thermal contact material and greater than 30 kW/m2K when thin graphite foil is used to increase the heat transfer ability. Therefore miter bends and miter bend mirrors are included as necessary in the finite element model.