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
Feb 2026
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
February 2026
Nuclear Technology
January 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Playing the “bad guy” to enhance next-generation safety
Sometimes, cops and robbers is more than just a kid’s game. At the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, researchers are channeling their inner saboteurs to discover vulnerabilities in next-generation nuclear reactors, making sure that they’re as safe as possible before they’re even constructed.
N. Yanagi, S. Imagawa, H. Sekiguchi, A. Ninomiya, K. Takahata, S. Hamaguchi, T. Obana, T. Mito, LHD Experiment Group
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 58 | Number 1 | July-August 2010 | Pages 571-580
Chapter 12. Superconducting Magnet System | Special Issue on Large Helical Device (LHD) | doi.org/10.13182/FST10-A10844
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Performance of the superconducting helical coils of the Large Helical Device (LHD) during the past 12 cooling cycles is reviewed. The pair of helical coils are pool cooled by liquid helium and wound with aluminum-stabilized NbTi/Cu composite-type superconductors. Intensive efforts have been made to reliably carry out excitations, as more than 20 temporary normal transitions were observed. It was found that the minimum propagation current was about 10% lower than the nominal operation current. To improve the cryogenic stability, subcooled liquid helium has been supplied since 2006 using cold compressors, and the inlet temperature is lowered to be 3.2 K. The toroidal magnetic field has been raised by 5% and the plasma parameters are being enhanced. Pulse-height analysis is successfully applied on the balance voltage and acoustic emission signals to investigate the mechanical properties of the windings and their changes in years of operation. Short-duration normal transitions are automatically detected using a sophisticated monitoring system and careful operations are continued.