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
Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
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
May 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Bipartisan Fusion Energy Act pushes for regulatory clarity
Sen. Alex Padilla (D., Calif.) introduced the Fusion Energy Act (S. 4151) last month with a bipartisan group of cosponsors—John Cornyn (R., Texas), Cory Booker (D., N.J.), Todd Young (R., Ind.), and Patty Murray (D., Wash.). The legislation would codify the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s regulatory authority over commercial fusion energy systems to streamline the creation of clear federal regulations that will support the development of commercial fusion power plants—and would require a report within one year on a study of risk- and performance-based, design-specific licensing frameworks for “mass-manufactured fusion machines.
“Congress must do everything in its power to ensure continued U.S. leadership in developing commercial fusion energy facilities,” said Padilla as he introduced the bill. “The Fusion Energy Act would provide regulatory certainty for investors as the NRC develops and streamlines frameworks for such facilities.”
Antonio Frattolillo, Silvio Migliori, Stephen K. Combs, Stanley L. Milora
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 32 | Number 4 | December 1997 | Pages 601-609
Technical Paper | Special Section: Plasma Control Issues for Tokamaks / Fusion Fuel Cycle | doi.org/10.13182/FST97-A19907
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Next-step fusion devices, like the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), and future fusion power plants will require a flexible plasma fueling system, including both gas puffing and high- and low-speed pellet injection. To sustain core plasma density, relatively large pellets penetrating beyond the separatrix will have to be provided at a repetition rate of ∼1 Hz for very long pulse operation. In the context of a cooperative agreement between the U.S. Department of Energy and the Euratom-ENEA Association, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) has collaborated with ENEA Frascati to demonstrate the feasibility of a high-speed (2 to 3 km/s) repeating (∼1-Hz) pneumatic pellet injector for long-pulse operation. A test facility was assembled at ORNL that combined a Frascati repeating two-stage light-gas gun and an existing ORNL deuterium extruder, equipped with a pellet chambering mechanism/gun barrel assembly. It was operated in the course of three joint experimental campaigns between September 1993 and May 1995. The results of the first two campaigns appear in an earlier paper. Here, the results are reported of the third campaign, during which the original objectives of the collaboration were met. Both performance and reliability of the system were improved, with the facility's being capable of delivering sequences of 2.7-mm deuterium pellets at a repetition rate of 1 Hz and velocities up to 2.5 km/s. The test facility was also briefly operated with neon pellets to explore the potential to produce fast “killer” pellets. Speeds of 1.7 km/s were easily achieved using a piston mass of 43 g. Higher speeds should be achievable with a system specifically designed for neon or other high-Z gases.