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Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
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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
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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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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.
K. Ogawa, M. Isobe, H. Nuga, R. Seki, S. Ohdachi, M. Osakabe
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 78 | Number 3 | April 2022 | Pages 175-185
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2021.1973294
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A numerical study of the alpha particle emission rate due to the p-11B fusion reaction based on the respectively obtained Large Helical Device (LHD) plasma parameters in an experiment is performed. First, the total alpha particle emission rate is estimated by employing the beam ion distribution calculation code FIT3D and the fusion reaction rate calculation code FBURN based on the classic confinement of beam ions. Then, the calculation is performed using hydrogen-beam-heated hydrogen plasma parameters and the radial boron density profile obtained from boron drop discharge. The result shows that the total alpha particle emission rate reaches approximately 1014 s−1. Then, based on the radial profile of the alpha particle emission calculated by the FBURN code, the distribution of the first orbit loss of5.78-MeV alpha particles created by the p-11B reaction on the vacuum vessel and the divertor plate is calculated by the collisionless Lorentz orbit code LORBIT. Although most of the alpha particles are lost to the divertor plate, some of the alpha particles are lost on the vacuum vessel. Finally, a feasibility study of alpha particle detection by the existing manipulators and fast ion loss detector position is performed. The number of particles as a function of position shows that a substantial number of alpha particles can be detected. Alpha particles with a pitch angle of ~130 deg can reach manipulator positions. In contrast, particles with pitch angles of ~50 and ~110 deg can reach the fast ion loss detector position. The calculation shows that measurement of alpha particles due to p-11B is thought to be possible using charged particle detectors.