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
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.
Meeting Spotlight
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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
February 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Fermilab center renamed after late particle physicist Helen Edwards
Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory’s Integrated Engineering Research Center, which officially opened in January 2024, is now known as the Helen Edwards Engineering Center. The name was changed to honor the late particle physicist who led the design, construction, commissioning, and operation of the lab’s Tevatron accelerator and was part of the Water Resources Development Act signed by President Biden in December 2024, according to a Fermilab press release.
H. J. de Blank
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 57 | Number 2 | February 2010 | Pages 117-123
Equilibrium and Instabilities | Proceedings of the Ninth Carolus Magnus Summer School on Plasma and Fusion Energy Physics | doi.org/10.13182/FST10-A9402
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This lecture treats the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equilibrium of axisymmetric plasmas, as given by the Grad-Shafranov equation. In a brief introduction, equilibrium parameters such as the q-profile, the internal inductance, and the poloidal beta are introduced. The properties of these quantities will be illustrated in the case of the tokamak, by applying the large aspect ratio tokamak approximation. The properties of a non-circular plasma cross-section and the role of the vertical field will also be discussed in this approximation. Some attention is given to the (numerical) problem of solving the equilibrium equation and of reconstructing a plasma equilibrium from external measurements.
