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.
A. V. Anikeev, R. Dagan, U. Fischer
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 59 | Number 1 | January 2011 | Pages 162-165
doi.org/10.13182/FST11-1T5
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The paper presents a 3D numerical model of the neutron source for the transmutation of long-lived radioactive waste in spent nuclear fuel. The projected plasma type neutron source is based on the Gas Dynamic Trap (GDT) which is a special magnetic mirror system for the plasma confinement. A new improved version of the GDT type fusion neutron source is numerically simulated by use different numerical methods. New physical phenomena such as a vortex confinement, improved axial confinement, low radial transport, high etc. were included in these simulations. The experimental and theoretical foundations of these phenomena were obtained in the GDT-U experimental facility in the Budker Institute. In result the proposed neutron source has two n-zones of 2 m length with a neutron power of 1.6 MW/m and a neutron production rate up to 1.5x1018 n/s each. This source can be used for application to a fusion driven system for the burning of MA in spent nuclear fuel.