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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
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Commercial nuclear innovation "new space" age
In early 2006, a start-up company launched a small rocket from a tiny island in the Pacific. It exploded, showering the island with debris. A year later, a second launch attempt sent a rocket to space but failed to make orbit, burning up in the atmosphere. Another year brought a third attempt—and a third failure. The following month, in September 2008, the company used the last of its funds to launch a fourth rocket. It reached orbit, making history as the first privately funded liquid-fueled rocket to do so.
Haibo Liu, Kaiming Feng
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 54 | Number 4 | November 2008 | Pages 970-977
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST08-A1912
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Chinese helium-cooled solid breeder (CH-HCSB) test blanket module (TBM) is designed to be tested in ITER, and its aim is to validate the feasibility of a DEMO fusion reactor. The thermal-hydraulic transient analysis has to testify that the TBM and its helium cooling system (HCS) will not impact the safe operation of ITER under both normal and accidental conditions. In order to simulate the transient accidents, the TBM and HCS are modeled using the RELAP5/MOD3 system code. The steady-state results indicate that the designed TBM inlet/outlet temperatures are obtained and the temperature of first-wall (FW) structural material is below the limit. An ex-vessel loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) will induce the melting of FW beryllium armor after ~80 s of LOCA initiation, and some controlling measures have to be taken before melting. The pressurization of the vacuum vessel induced by an in-vessel LOCA is within the allowable value of the ITER design. Because of pressurization of the purge gas system, the tritium extraction system has to be isolated from the TBM quickly when an in-box LOCA happens. Based on the results, the design of the CH-HCSB TBM could be further modified in order to assure the safety of the TBM and ITER, from an engineering point of view.