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Division Spotlight
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.
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!
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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.
G. L. Kulcinski et al.
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 56 | Number 1 | July 2009 | Pages 493-500
Experimental Facilities and Nonelectric Applications | Eighteenth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Part 1) | doi.org/10.13182/FST09-21
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
For the past 15 years, the Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (IEC) fusion group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison has been conducting experiments to demonstrate that there can be many near term applications of fusion research long before the production of electricity in commercial fusion power plants. This research has concentrated on three fuel cycles: DD, D3He, and 3He3He. Some of the major accomplishments are listed below:a. The production of > 108 DD neutrons per second on a steady state basisb. The production of pulsed DD neutrons to over 1010 per second in 10Hz, 100 s bursts.c. The production of 14.7 MeV protons at > 108 per second (steady state) from the D3He reaction.d. Demonstrated the detection of the explosive C-4 with steady state DD neutrons.e. Demonstrated the detection of Highly Enriched U (HEU) with pulsed DD neutron fluxes.f. Production of the positron emission tomography (PET) isotopes, 94mTc and 13Nusing D3He protons.g. Production of the first measured 3He3He fusion reactions in an IEC device.h. Development of unique diagnostic techniques to measure the rate, spectrum, and location of fusion reactions in IEC devices.i. Use of an IEC device to study the behavior of materials at high temperature during charged particle bombardment.The accomplishments above were carried out in 3 devices HOMER, 3HeCTRE, and HELIOS that have operated up to 180 kV and meter currents of 65 mA. New applications are currently being explored and expanded roles for the IEC device will be described.
