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.
L. A. Bernstein, A. N. Perevezentsev, L. A. Rivkis, A. A. Semenov, B. V. Safronov, A. P. Chukanov, E. V. Polianczyk, G. B. Manelis, S. V. Glazov, I. A. Revelsky, E. S. Brodsky, E. N. Kapinus
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 58 | Number 2 | October 2010 | Pages 625-657
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST10-A10889
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Maintenance of the Joint European Torus (JET) reactor led to generation of soft housekeeping materials contaminated with tritium and comprising various polymeric materials. Some of the wastes fall into the category of intermediate-level waste and require processing to reduce the volume and/or change the category to low-level waste. Plasma arc centrifuge (PAC) combustion and countercurrent regime of gasification have been studied as candidates for a future waste treatment facility for JET tritium-contaminated wastes. This study was carried out for JET wastes that did not contain tritium. Mass reduction factors from 8 to 46 and from 35 to 143 for countercurrent regime of gasification and PAC combustion, respectively, have been demonstrated to be dependent on waste composition. Volume reduction factors from 20 to 100 and from 95 to 400 for countercurrent regime of gasification and PAC combustion, respectively, have been also estimated to be dependent on waste composition. The wastes and combustion products including chlorine-containing combustion products have been characterized using standard procedures and various analytical procedures developed for this study. The formation of water as a secondary waste was estimated for countercurrent regime of gasification, which was important for the ultimate processing of tritium-contaminated wastes.