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Division Spotlight
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.
Meeting Spotlight
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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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.
Y. Zhai, C. Neumeyer, J. Dellas, N. Greenough, M. Kalish, J. Petrella, W. Que, S. Raftopoulos, and the NSTX-U Coil Test Team
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 75 | Number 8 | November 2019 | Pages 775-785
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2019.1610314
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The National Spherical Torus eXperiment Upgrade (NSTX-U) is an innovative magnetic fusion device constructed at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). In 2016, because of the failure of the PF-1a upper divertor coil, which experienced a coolant blockage, the NSTX-U operation was suspended. A postmortem investigation indicated that an undetected gradual deterioration of coil inductance preceded the coolant blockage leading up to the operational suspension. The project team decided that all inner poiloidal field (PF) upper and lower coil pairs, denoted PF-1a, PF-1b, and PF-1c, shall be replaced with new coils of improved design and manufacture. The new prototype inner PF coils from four suppliers across the globe were evaluated at PPPL following a prototype technical evaluation procedure. Mechanical inspection and electrical testing were performed to qualify each supplier.
This paper discusses the details of the mechanical and electrical tests and measurements performed on the complete coils. The test results were used to assess quality of turn-to-turn and turn-to-ground insulations of the prototype coils. Two prototype coils were power tested at PPPL for five pulses to reach its rated current and maximum temperature following the completion of low-power electrical testing. During pulses, the conductors experience a near adiabatic temperature rise and hoop stress. Between pulses, cold water enters the inlet, and a cooling wave propagates through the coils as slugs of cold water heat up to the conductor temperature and then pass through the coil to the outlet. Results show that full power testing did not change coil electrical characteristics. Each prototype coil was then sectioned into two halves to permit examination of the internal insulation, conductor spacing, and vacuum pressure impregnation quality. The high-voltage breakdown test of sectioned coils was performed to evaluate turn and ground insulation breakdown voltage. The estimate for the production coils is based largely on the experience learned from the prototype coil program. The first production coil will be delivered to PPPL for testing by January 2020.