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
Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
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
Dec 2024
Jul 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
January 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Christmas Night
Twas the night before Christmas when all through the houseNo electrons were flowing through even my mouse.
All devices were plugged in by the chimney with careWith the hope that St. Nikola Tesla would share.
Haruhiko Himura, Shigefumi Okada, Seiichi Goto
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 27 | Number 3 | April 1995 | Pages 345-348
Compact Torus (Field-Reversed Configuration, Spheromak) Concepts | doi.org/10.13182/FST95-A11947102
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Translation dynamics of field-reversed configuration (FRC) plasmas are studied in the FRC Injection Experiment (FIX) machine. FRC plasmas have been formed in, and launched from, a field-reversed theta-pinch source, and subsequently translated into reduced external magnetic fields. When translated into an adjacent confinement region, incident velocity of the formed FRC exceeds the Alfven velocity. Moreover, the translated FRC cools less than the prediction of an adiabatic theory. The plasma reflects from an external mirror, and some of its axial kinetic energy is lost during every reflection. In this reflection process, significant plasma heating is observed in the case where the translation velocity exceeds the sound velocity.