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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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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?
Paul W. Humrickhouse, Brad J. Merrill, Su-Jong Yoon, Lee C. Cadwallader
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 75 | Number 8 | November 2019 | Pages 973-1001
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2019.1658464
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In this work we consider some of the safety implications of using liquid metal (LM) plasma-facing components (PFCs) in future fusion reactors. Candidate LMs include lithium, tin, and tin-lithium alloys, and we consider a modified Fusion Nuclear Science Facility design with a dual-cooled lead-lithium blanket and fast-flowing LM first wall and divertor consisting of each of these aforementioned metals. Tin and tin-lithium PFCs are found to have little impact on the potential source terms, including tritium and activation product releases during an accident as well as tritium permeation losses during normal operation, relative to the lead-lithium blanket. For a lithium PFC, chemical reactivity and high tritium inventories are additional concerns. We outline some necessary safety precautions for lithium systems and review the relevant operating experience of sodium-cooled fission reactors. Design constraints to keep the tritium inventory low in such a lithium system are outlined, including in the tritium extraction system, which will have to rely on different techniques than envisioned for other LMs such as PbLi, Sn, and SnLi, which have a much lower tritium solubility than lithium. Development of such extraction systems is significant research and development needed prior to deployment of lithium PFCs.