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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.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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ANS Standards Committee publishes joint ASME/ANS standard for Level 1/large early release frequency PRA
ANSI/ASME/ANS RA-S-1.1-2024, Standard for Level 1/Large Early Release Frequency Probabilistic Risk Assessment for Nuclear Power Plant Applications, has been published by the American Nuclear Society. The document, which is a joint standard developed with the American Society of Mechanical Engineers by the ANS/ASME Joint Committee on Nuclear Risk Management, received the approval of the American National Standards Institute on February 29, 2024, and was issued on March 15, 2024.
Tim D. Bohm, Ben A. Lindley
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 79 | Number 8 | November 2023 | Pages 995-1007
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2022.2136923
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Tritium breeding blankets within D-T-fueled fusion reactors contain lithium compounds and typically require neutron multiplier materials to achieve a tritium breeding ratio (TBR) consistent with self-sustaining operation. Liquid breeder blankets have some advantages over solid blankets, and previous blanket studies have investigated liquid metal as well as liquid salt–based blankets. Liquid salts have reduced magnetohydrodynamic effects as compared to liquid metals, but typically have a lower TBR. Recently, advanced fission reactor concepts have considered chloride-based salts in their design, and there is a significant amount of research work occurring to study these salts. Chloride salts have previously been considered for fusion reactors, but studies have typically found lower breeding ratios than for fluoride salts, such as 2(LiF)-BeF2 (flibe) so they have not been further developed. In this work, we use a one-dimensional cylindrical radiation transport model of a conceptual tokamak fusion reactor to investigate the neutronics feasibility of using a chloride salt–based blanket that uses chlorine enriched in 37Cl, which has both a low capture cross section and a substantial (n,2n) cross section. It is found that chloride salts (LiCl mixed with BeCl2 and/or PbCl2) can potentially achieve a ~3% to 5% higher TBR than fluoride molten salts, notably flibe, in the absence of a solid multiplier. Including a solid multiplier, however, does narrow this advantage, with TBRs estimated within ~1% of flibe with a 2-cm Be multiplier. Chloride salts can also reach lower melting points than flibe, potentially improving the scope for the use of reduced activation ferritic-martensitic steel as a structural material. There is substantial uncertainty in the calculations driven by limited thermochemical data for the Cl salts, plus cross-section uncertainties. The production of 36Cl through 35Cl(n,g) and 37Cl(n,2n) has the potential to challenge the waste disposal rating of the blanket. Calculations indicate that, while this is not an immediate showstopper, this case depends upon the exact waste disposal rating criteria used for 36Cl. Further work could reduce these uncertainties with improved thermochemical data, higher-fidelity modeling for downselected salts, and more refined waste disposal calculations and regulatory guidance. Finally, it must be recognized that, as for all molten salts, corrosion and chemistry can present appreciable technical challenges that require further assessment in developing a practical blanket concept, and also that the enrichment of chlorine presents an additional technical and supply chain challenge.