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Nuclear Criticality Safety
NCSD provides communication among nuclear criticality safety professionals through the development of standards, the evolution of training methods and materials, the presentation of technical data and procedures, and the creation of specialty publications. In these ways, the division furthers the exchange of technical information on nuclear criticality safety with the ultimate goal of promoting the safe handling of fissionable materials outside reactors.
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International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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
May 2025
Latest News
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
N.I. Arkhipov, V.P. Bakhtin, S.M. Kurkin, V.M. Safronov, D.A. Toporkov, S.G. Vasenin, H. Wuerz, A.M. Zhitlukhin
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 35 | Number 1 | January 1999 | Pages 131-135
Oral Presentations | doi.org/10.13182/FST99-A11963837
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Process of interaction of intense plasma fluxes up to 10 MW/cm2 with solid targets was studied experimentally. It was shown that a dense plasma layer arises near target surface and protects the target from direct effect of an incoming high temperature plasma. Spatial distribution and temporal behavior of the shielding layer depend on the target materials. For a high Z materials (tungsten, copper, stainless steel) dense plasma layer is localized near the surface during all time of the interaction. For a low Z materials (graphite, boron nitrid, plexiglass, aluminium) low dense plasma cloud – “corona” rapidly expands toward incoming plasma flow along the magnetic field lines. The experiments demonstrated effective shielding of the different materials surface from excessive evaporation. Bulk energy of incoming plasma is converted into SXR radiation in near surface layer for a high Z materials and, partially, into target plasma heating for a low Z materials. Measured parameters of plasma shield are used as a benchmark in developing numerical codes to predict a real damage for ITER divertor plates due to hard disruptions.