ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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 Science and Engineering
June 2024
Nuclear Technology
May 2024
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Wyoming as a hub for new nuclear manufacturing and microreactor deployment?
A 60-year-old Wyoming industrial machinery company is partnering with nuclear innovator BWX Technologies to deploy 50-megawatt microreactors in America’s heartland over the coming years to provide carbon-free heat and power for industrial users.
Gary S. Was, Lawrence M. Lidsky
Nuclear Technology | Volume 43 | Number 3 | May 1979 | Pages 289-300
Technical Paper | Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/NT79-A19218
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A purging process was developed that will permit operation of fusion reactor blankets employing solid LiAlO2 as the breeder material at fuel temperatures of <600°C. The low fuel temperature would greatly reduce the problems of fuel sintering, densification, and volume expansion that occur at fuel temperatures in excess of 900°C without degrading the plant thermal efficiency. The process consists of heating the blanket to a specified temperature for a given time at regular intervals to release tritium held up in the breeding material As an example, a detailed purging cycle was developed for the breeder rod shim rod blanket that uses LiAlO2 in the form of micron-size particles compacted into millimetre-size pellets and is designed for low-temperature operation. Tritium inventory, doubling time, purging time, purging temperature, purging frequency, and particle size are the parameters used to evaluate the process. Calculations indicate that breeder particle sizes ranging from 20 to 50 μm and purging temperatures ranging from 600 to 700°C can result in purge times of <1 h with three or more weeks between purges, and a doubling time of 7 yr for a blanket inventory limit of 5 kg and a breeding ratio of <1.02.