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
Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Mar 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
February 2024
Latest News
Can hydrogen be the transportation fuel in an otherwise nuclear economy?
Let’s face it: The global economy should be powered primarily by nuclear power. And it probably will by the end of this century, with a still-significant assist from renewables and hydro. Once nuclear systems are dominant, the costs come down to where gas is now; and when carbon emissions are reduced to a small portion of their present state, it will become obvious that most other sources are only good in niche settings. I mean, why use small modular reactors to load-follow when they can just produce that power instead of buffering it?
C. A. Flanagan, T. G. Brown, W. R. Hamilton, V. D. Lee, Y-K. M. Peng, T. E. Shannon, P. T. Spampinato, J. J. Yugo, D. B. Montgomery, L. Bromberg, D. Cohn, R. M. Thome, John C. Commander, Robert H. Wyman, J. A. Schmidt, C. W. Bushnell, J. C. Citrolo, R. B. Fleming, D. Huttar, D. Post, Jr., K. Young, F. A. Puhn, R. Gallix, E. R. Hager, J. R. Bartlit, D. W. Swain
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 10 | Number 3 | November 1986 | Pages 491-497
The Compact Ignition Tokamak Program | Proceedings of the Seveth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Reno, Nevada, June 15–19, 1986) | doi.org/10.13182/FST86-A24794
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Compact Ignition Tokamak (CIT) mission is to achieve ignition and provide the capability to experimentally study burning plasma behavior. A national team has developed a baseline concept including definition of the necessary research and development. The baseline concept satisfies the physics performance objectives established for the project and complies with defined design specifications. To ensure that the mission is achieved, the design requires large magnetic fields on axis ( ∼ 10 T) and use of large plasma currents ( ∼ 10 MA). The design is capable of accommodating significant auxiliary heating to enter the ignited regime. The CIT is designed to operate in plasma parameter regimes that are directly relevant to future fusion power reactors. The CIT uses a high-strength copper-Inconel composite plate toroidal magnet design and relies on inertial cooling starting from a liquid nitrogen temperature at the beginning of each pulse. The design is capable of both limiter and divertor operation. The design is compact (1.22 m major radius, 0.45 m plasma radius), has 20 toroidal field (TF) magnets, and has ten major horizontal access ports, about 20 cm by 80 cm, located between alternate TF coils. A total of 3000 full parameter deuterium-tritium (D-T) pulses and 50,000 partial parameter pulses are planned; each full parameter pulse is about 3–5 s. Significant fusion power (300–400 MW depending on ignition assumptions) will be generated; corresponding neutron wall loadings will be in the range 5–10 MW/m2. The current schedule is for a construction project to be authorized for the period FY 1988–93.