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Division Spotlight
Young Members Group
The Young Members Group works to encourage and enable all young professional members to be actively involved in the efforts and endeavors of the Society at all levels (Professional Divisions, ANS Governance, Local Sections, etc.) as they transition from the role of a student to the role of a professional. It sponsors non-technical workshops and meetings that provide professional development and networking opportunities for young professionals, collaborates with other Divisions and Groups in developing technical and non-technical content for topical and national meetings, encourages its members to participate in the activities of the Groups and Divisions that are closely related to their professional interests as well as in their local sections, introduces young members to the rules and governance structure of the Society, and nominates young professionals for awards and leadership opportunities available to members.
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
Latest News
Zap Energy hits 37-million-degree electron temperatures in compact fusion device
Zap Energy announced April 23 that it has reached 1-3 keV plasma electron temperatures—roughly the equivalent of 11 to 37 million degrees Celsius—using its sheared-flow-stabilized Z-pinch approach to fusion. Reaching temperatures above that of the sun’s core (which is 10 million degrees Celsius temperature) is just one hurdle required before any fusion confinement concept can realistically pursue net gain and fusion energy.
Alan H. Wells, Albert J. Machiels
Nuclear Technology | Volume 179 | Number 2 | August 2012 | Pages 180-188
Technical Paper | Reactor Safety | doi.org/10.13182/NT12-A14090
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Spent nuclear fuel transported in large casks must remain subcritical in all credible configurations for normal operation and hypothetical accident conditions. The effects on spent nuclear fuel reactivity from "worst-case" accident scenarios were surveyed in NUREG/CR-6835, "Effects of Fuel Failure on Criticality Safety and Radiation Dose for Spent Fuel Casks." The survey used scenarios that were postulated to provide theoretical upper limits for reactivity effects of fuel relocation, although they were described as going "beyond credible conditions." These scenarios involved physical changes either to fuel assembly rod arrays or to collections of fuel pellets with the fuel skeleton removed. To provide more credible estimates of the probability and maximum reactivity changes, a process is presented that deconstructs each scenario into a set of subscenarios and identifies the physical phenomena required to create the subscenario. The boundary between credible but unlikely scenarios and incredible scenarios is more easily discernible with this process.For marginally credible worst-case scenarios, it is concluded that the maximum reasonable reactivity increase either is less than the mandated administrative nuclear criticality safety margin for scenarios involving physical changes to fuel assembly rod arrays or is a substantial reactivity decrease for scenarios involving collections of fuel pellets. A cask designer could apply scenario deconstruction to evaluate the physical limits that apply to a particular transportation cask, and perform calculations specific to a particular cask design to show that criticality safety requirements are met.