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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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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
Latest News
Norway’s Halden reactor takes first step toward decommissioning
The government of Norway has granted the transfer of the Halden research reactor from the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) to the state agency Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND). The 25-MWt Halden boiling water reactor operated from 1958 to 2018 and was used in the research of nuclear fuel, reactor internals, plant procedures and monitoring, and human factors.
R. H. Goulding, P. A. Piotrowicz, C. J. Beers, T. M. Biewer, J. F. Caneses, J. B. O. Caughman, N. Kafle, E. G. Lindquist, H. A. Ray, J. Rapp, M. A. Showers
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 75 | Number 7 | October 2019 | Pages 614-620
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2019.1623569
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Ion cyclotron heating (ICH) at a frequency in the 6- to 9-MHz range with electron heating in the 28- to 105-GHz range will be used in the Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment (MPEX) to greatly increase the energy of the plasma stream produced by the helicon plasma source. ICH was chosen over substrate biasing to produce energetic ions because it can more accurately reproduce plasma-material interactions in a fusion device. For instance, when the target is tilted with respect to the background magnetic field during ICH, a magnetic presheath is created so that redeposition phenomena as in a tokamak divertor can be better approximated. ICH experiments were conducted on the Proto-MPEX device, which was developed to provide a physics basis upon which MPEX is designed. In this paper we describe some of these experiments in which the previous fixed graphite target was replaced by a movable stainless steel target. With the new target, the strong, monotonic decrease in ion temperature observed previously as a function of axial distance between the ion cyclotron resonance region and the target was not observed. Instead, only a small drop was seen within ~1 cm of the target. The ion temperatures were determined spectroscopically, utilizing Doppler broadening measurements of an Ar II line, in a plasma that is 90% deuterium and 10% argon. Measurements were obtained using optical fibers at a fixed location, with the target moving perpendicularly relative to the viewing chords. Comparisons with previous results will be discussed, including observed plasma parameters Ti, Te, and ne, and heat flux at the target.