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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.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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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Latest News
Securing the advanced reactor fleet
Physical protection accounts for a significant portion of a nuclear power plant’s operational costs. As the U.S. moves toward smaller and safer advanced reactors, similar protection strategies could prove cost prohibitive. For tomorrow’s small modular reactors and microreactors, security costs must remain appropriate to the size of the reactor for economical operation.
James P. Blanchard, Carl Martin
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 64 | Number 3 | September 2013 | Pages 435-439
ARIES | Proceedings of the Twentieth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (TOFE-2012) (Part 2) Nashville, Tennessee, August 27-31, 2012 | doi.org/10.13182/FST12-512
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The ARIES project is currently proposing an all-tungsten divertor for their tokamak designs. In designing such a component, fracture will be a critical failure mechanism, due to the limited ductility of the tungsten. Hence, this paper presents a series of fracture mechanics-based analyses to demonstrate the feasibility of using an all-tungsten divertor in a commercial device. The analyses presented here employ a commercial finite element code (ANSYS) to carry out three-dimensional thermal, mechanical, and fracture calculations. Due to the inelastic deformations produced by the high temperatures and stresses in the component, the fracture calculations employ the J-Integral, a path-independent contour integral that estimates the strain energy release rate for a crack of assumed geometry. Elliptical surface cracks are introduced both inside and outside the coolant channel and steady state calculations are carried out for both full power and cold shutdown conditions. It is determined that the critical crack is on the inside of the coolant channel and the largest forcing is during full power. In addition, transient calculations are carried out to simulate edge localized modes (ELMs) in the plasma and conclusions are drawn with respect to the severity of these events and their effect on the lifetime of the component. Finally, thermal creep is considered as a potential failure mode.