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.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Mar 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
March 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
April 2026
Latest News
NN Asks: What hurdles stand in the way of nuclear power’s global expansion?
Jake Jurewicz
Nuclear technology is mature. It provides firm power at scale with minimal externalities and has done so for decades. The core problem isn’t about the technology—it is how the plants are built. Nuclear construction has a well-documented history of cost and schedule overruns. Previous nuclear plants often spent more than twice what was first budgeted, making nuclear among the power technologies with the largest average cost overruns worldwide.
Recent projects illustrate how severe the problem can be. In South Carolina, the V.C. Summer nuclear expansion saw projected costs rise from roughly $10 billion to more than $25 billion before the project was abandoned in 2017, by which time more than $9 billion had already been spent and customers were stuck paying for a site they have yet to benefit from.
R. Lässer, D.K. Murdoch, R.-D. Penzhorn
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 41 | Number 3 | May 2002 | Pages 621-625
Device, Facility, and Operation | Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Tritium Science and Technology Tsukuba, Japan November 12-16, 2001 | doi.org/10.13182/FST41-621
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The present design of the ITER mechanical forevacuum system foresees the use of Roots pumps with pumping speeds of 4200 and 1200 m3/h. Commercial Roots pumps on the market are not tritium compatible. They require one or more of the following modifications: i) replacement of elastomer O-rings by metal seals, ii) minimisation or elimination of leaks along the rotating shafts and iii) only use of tritium compatible materials. This paper presents the possible application of ferrofluidic seals to avoid gas flows between the pumping and the oil filled volumes. Tests were performed with ferrofluidic seals for different rotational shaft speeds up to 1500 rpm and for various pressure differences up to 100 kPa. The results with the ferrofluidic seal were very encouraging showing very small leak rates under Roots pump relevant conditions. To verify the performance of ferrofluidic seals under realistic conditions a tritium compatible Roots pump having a pumping speed of 250 m3/h and using ferrofluidic and metal seals is being constructed.
