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
Human Factors, Instrumentation & Controls
Improving task performance, system reliability, system and personnel safety, efficiency, and effectiveness are the division's main objectives. Its major areas of interest include task design, procedures, training, instrument and control layout and placement, stress control, anthropometrics, psychological input, and motivation.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Jul 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Vogtle-3 shuts down for valve issue
One of the new Vogtle units in Georgia was shut down unexpectedly on Monday last week for a valve issue that has since been investigated and repaired. According to multiple local news outlets, Georgia Power reported on July 17 that Unit 3 was back in service.
Southern Company spokesperson Jacob Hawkins confirmed that Vogtle-3 went off line at 9:25 p.m. local time on July 8 “due to lowering water levels in the steam generators caused by a valve issue on one of the three main feedwater pumps.”
Sümer Sahin, Abdulmuttalip Sahinaslan, Metin Kaya
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 34 | Number 2 | September 1998 | Pages 95-108
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST98-A56
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Liquids may be used between the magnetic confined fusion plasma and the first wall of the plasma chamber to reduce the material damage through displacements per atom (dpa) and helium gas production. This could extend the lifetime of the first wall in a magnetic fusion energy (MFE) reactor to a plant lifetime of ~30 yr.Neutronic calculations are carried out in S16P3 approximation for a typical HYLIFE-II blanket geometry, an inertial fusion energy (IFE) reactor design. This provides a comparison of the damage data between compressed and uncompressed targets, for IFE and MFE applications, respectively, by using Flibe (Li2BeF4), natural lithium, and Li17Pb83 eutectic as both coolant and wall protection. In the consideration of mainline design criteria, including sufficient tritium breeding ratio (TBR = 1.1), material protection (dpa < 100 and He < 500 parts per million by atom in 30 yr of operation), and shallow burial index, coolant zone thickness values are found to be 60 cm for Flibe, 171 cm for natural lithium, and 158 cm for Li17Pb83 with Type 304 stainless steel (SS-304) as structural material.Material damage investigations are extended to structural materials made of SiC and graphite for the same blanket to obtain waste material suitable for shallow burial after decommissioning of the power plant.The dpa values and helium production rates in graphite are comparable to those in SS-304. However, they are higher in SiC than in SS-304 and graphite.The average neutron heating density in the external 1.6-mm-thick SS-304 shell of the investigated blanket beyond the SiO2 insulation foam decreases rapidly with increasing thickness of the Flibe coolant. With DR = 60 and 80 cm, it becomes only 594 and 95 W/cm3, respectively. The design limit for heat generation density in superconducting coils for magnetic fusion is 80 W/cm3. A very important result of this work is that a blanket with liquid-curtain protection would not require extra shielding for superconducting coils around the fusion plasma chamber. This could result in an important simplification of the design.