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Division Spotlight
Robotics & Remote Systems
The Mission of the Robotics and Remote Systems Division is to promote the development and application of immersive simulation, robotics, and remote systems for hazardous environments for the purpose of reducing hazardous exposure to individuals, reducing environmental hazards and reducing the cost of performing work.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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
Latest News
NRC engineers share their expertise at the University of Puerto Rico
Robert Roche-Rivera and Marcos Rolón-Acevedo are licensed professional engineers who work at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. They are also alumni of the University of Puerto Rico–Mayagüez (UPRM) and have been sharing their knowledge and experience with students at their alma mater since last year, serving as adjunct professors in the university’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. During the 2023–2024 school year, they each taught two courses: Fundamentals of Nuclear Science and Engineering, and Nuclear Power Plant Engineering.
L. R. Baylor, T. E. Gebhart, S. J. Meitner, D. A. Rasmussen, C. Barbier, S. K. Combs, N. Commaux, P. W. Fisher, M. J. Gouge, T. C. Jernigan
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 79 | Number 8 | November 2023 | Pages 1082-1091
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2023.2214268
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The mitigation of plasma disruptions in tokamaks has become a very important topic in magnetic fusion research, motived by the potential challenges that may occur in ITER disruptions due to the high magnetic field and high plasma current. Such disruptions can have a deleterious effect on the internal components due to the fast dissipation of the plasma thermal energy and the magnetic stored energy leading to large forces, as well as the possible formation of several megaamperes of energetic runaway electrons during the current quench. Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been developing and deploying technology to inject material into the plasma to rapidly radiate the thermal energy and start a fast plasma current ramp down to dissipate the magnetic stored energy. The choice of materials to inject and the injection technology have evolved over the past decades to arrive at the present systems planned for ITER based on cryogenic pellets of hydrogen-neon mixtures for thermal mitigation and hydrogen pellets for runaway electron mitigation. This scheme injects shattered cryogenic material into the plasma from pellets formed in situ in a pipe gun and fired onto angled metal surfaces at the end of the injection line just before entering the plasma.
In this paper, we describe the evolution of schemes and technologies that have been employed for disruption mitigation and runaway electron prevention and dissipation, discuss how they have performed in present-day experiments, and give the outlook for the use of this technology in a burning plasma and how it may continue to evolve in the future.