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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
First astatine-labeled compound shipped in the U.S.
The Department of Energy’s National Isotope Development Center (NIDC) on March 31 announced the successful long-distance shipment in the United States of a biologically active compound labeled with the medical radioisotope astatine-211 (At-211). Because previous shipments have included only the “bare” isotope, the NIDC has described the development as “unleashing medical innovation.”
S. Welte, M. Sturm, D. Hillesheimer, L. T. Le, S. Schäfer, E. Fanghänel, F. Priester, A. Marsteller
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 76 | Number 3 | April 2020 | Pages 227-231
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2019.1705681
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The main task of the Tritium Laboratory Karlsruhe (TLK) in 2018 was the commissioning and First Tritium (FT) operation of the windowless gaseous tritium source (WGTS) of the Karlsruhe Tritium Neutrino (KATRIN) experiment. It was paramount to enable the FT measurement run of the KATRIN experiment, to yield first scientific results with the complete KATRIN beamline.
The aim of KATRIN is to determine the mass of the electron-antineutrino by precise spectroscopy of the tritium β-spectrum close to its maximum energy of 18.6 keV. KATRIN uses an ultraluminous source (WGTS) and a high-resolution electrostatic spectrometer. While the inner loop system of KATRIN has the task of providing stabilized tritium circulation with a throughput of 40 g·day−1 for the WGTS, the outer loop incorporates the entire TLK infrastructure for tritium cleanup, purification, and accountancy prior to reinjection of tritium into the inner loop.
For KATRIN’s FT run, ≈5 × 1013 Bq (2.3 × 10−2 mol) of tritium was provided in 3.2 mol of deuterium. In contrast to the high isotopic purity of >95% tritium necessary for future KATRIN operation, a concentration of 7 × 108 Bq·m−3 (resulting in 0.5% nominal source luminosity) had to be kept constant during the entire FT campaign. This required a processing scheme deviating from the later KATRIN outer loop processing procedure.
This paper describes the procedures used to supply the KATRIN inner loop with its FT gas. Furthermore, experience gained during operation of the different gas processing steps and tritium accountancy is presented.
