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Division Spotlight
Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
Meeting Spotlight
ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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
March 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
February 2025
Latest News
WEST claims latest plasma confinement record
The French magnetic confinement fusion tokamak known as WEST maintained a plasma in February for more than 22 minutes—1,337 seconds, to be precise—and “smashed” the previous record plasma duration for a tokamak with a 25 percent improvement, according to the CEA, which operates the machine. The previous 1,006-second record was set by China’s EAST just a few weeks prior. Records are made to be broken, but this rapid progress illustrates a collective, global increase in plasma confinement expertise, aided by tungsten in key components.
M. Ishii, T. C. Chawla
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 56 | Number 2 | February 1975 | Pages 188-195
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE75-A26657
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The formation of hot spots in fuel cladding due to the deposition of a low-conductivity heat-generating fuel or due to fission-gas-jet impingement is a very credible event and can significantly influence the probability for slow fuel-failure propagation in a subassembly of a liquid-metal fast breeder reactor. By assuming steady-state conditions, a general expression is obtained for the temperature distribution in these hot spots. As special cases, expressions are obtained for temperature distributions in hot spots caused by fission-gas-jet impingement and partial or total channel blockages by fuel debris. A partial verification of the model for thermal analysis is provided by comparing predictions for the temperature distribution in the gas-jet impingement region to the available experimental data.
