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
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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
Proving DRACO will deliver
The United States is now closer than it has been in over five decades to launching the first nuclear thermal rocket into space, thanks to DRACO—the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Orbit.
Ronald E. Bell, Ronald E. Hatcher, Lawrence J. Lagin, Michio Okabayashi, Paul Sichta
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 30 | Number 2 | November 1996 | Pages 151-158
Technical Paper | Special Section: Plasma Control Issues for Tokamaks / Experimental Device | doi.org/10.13182/FST96-A30747
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A digital plasma control system for the Princeton Beta Experiment Modification (PBX-M) is being prepared. The functions of the existing analog shape and position control subsystems will be assumed by the upgraded control system. Plasma profile control will be pursued by making use of the lower hybrid current drive and the ion Bernstein wave heating systems to modify the plasma current and pressure profiles. A framework for integrating these plasma control functions is presented. Existing profile diagnostics can, with some modification, provide the information necessary to feed back on the plasma profiles. The digital control hardware is commercially available. Four real-time processors, which can be programmed independently, reside on a single Versa Module Eurocard board with dedicated shared memory. The parallel programming capability allows the separation by function of the vertical position control, shaping control, and profile control, which have different characteristic time-scales.