ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Division Spotlight
Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
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.
Jérôme Bucalossi, Tore Supra Team
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 46 | Number 1 | July 2004 | Pages 184-191
Technical Paper | Stellarators | doi.org/10.13182/FST04-A554
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
During winter 2001-2002, the Tore Supra tokamak went through a major upgrade to provide a heat extraction capability of 25 MW in steady state (composants internes et limiteur project). In the new configuration, the operational domain has experienced a rapid extension. Indeed, discharges of more than 4 min have been performed with a world-record-breaking discharge accounting for 0.75 GJ of injected/extracted energy. Stationary discharges with fully noninductively driven current are performed routinely (typical parameters: plasma current, 0.52 MA; toroidal magnetic field, 4 T; lower hybrid power, ~3 MW, electron line density, 2.5 × 1019 m-2), limited in duration by the original lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) system. Ion cyclotron waves [ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH)] have been coupled to plasma for 1 min in combination with LHCD in a higher-density scenario (Greenwald fraction of 0.8, 0.11 GJ of injected ICRH power for 0.42 GJ total injected power) and with a substantial fraction of bootstrap current (15 to 20%). Electron cyclotron current drive experiments are also carried out: A new world record of electron cyclotron injected energy has been established in a single electron cyclotron resonance heating pulse of 32 s (25 MJ). In these discharges, stable central electron temperature oscillations sometimes appear, probably due to the interplay between heat transport and current drive. Density profile peaking is observed despite the absence of toroidal electric field, suggesting the existence of a turbulent inward pinch. Finally, particle balance analyses indicate that the in-vessel deuterium inventory never reaches saturation. Many carbon deposits and flakes have been found in the inner vessel, possibly playing a role in the fuel retention.