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
Education, Training & Workforce Development
The Education, Training & Workforce Development Division provides communication among the academic, industrial, and governmental communities through the exchange of views and information on matters related to education, training and workforce development in nuclear and radiological science, engineering, and technology. Industry leaders, education and training professionals, and interested students work together through Society-sponsored meetings and publications, to enrich their professional development, to educate the general public, and to advance nuclear and radiological science and engineering.
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
Apr 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
College students help develop waste measuring device at Hanford
A partnership between Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) and Washington State University has resulted in the development of a device to measure radioactive and chemical tank waste at the Hanford Site. WRPS is the contractor at Hanford for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management.
G. Waidmann
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 33 | Number 2 | March 1998 | Pages 90-96
Basic Theory and Fusion Devices | doi.org/10.13182/FST98-A11946998
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Different operational limits of tokamaks are reviewed. The finally limiting processes are hard or soft plasma disruptions or a strong x-ray source. The underlying events are explained as far as the physical causes are known. Treated are the density limit, the low-q-limit, the runaway limit, the β–-limit, and the vertical displacement limit. In addition, the spontaneous MHD-instability and a hollow temperature profile situation are presented. The graphical displays are experimental results from the TEXTOR tokamak.
VIII. SUMMARY
A number of practical limitations for tokamak operation was briefly discussed. These limits play an important role for the operation of future large tokamak devices. They must be avoided by all means to minimize the risk of technical defects on machine and electrical components. The physical mechanisms involved and the precursors to coming disruptions must be known and should be studied on existing experiments today. Strategies to bring the future machines into a safe state, whenever a known precursor to a tokamak disruption is detected, must be developed. Tokamak plasmas are susceptible to disruptive behaviour in the limiting parameter regimes.