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
April 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Going Nuclear: Notes from the officially unofficial book tour
I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.
James P. Blanchard, Carl J. Martin, Mark Tillack, Xueren Wang
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 60 | Number 1 | July 2011 | Pages 313-317
In-Vessel Components - FW, Blanket, Shield & VV | Proceedings of the Nineteenth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (TOFE) (Part 1) | doi.org/10.13182/FST11-A12372
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
One of the primary failure mechanisms addressed by structural design rules for fusion components is ratcheting, the accumulation of strain with cyclic loads. If a component is loaded such that ratcheting occurs, failure can be expected in relatively short order, so design rules must ensure that the behavior is avoided. In this paper, we present finite element models for cyclic loading of typical fusion structures and compare the results to analytical models for simple geometries and design rules intended for more complex geometries. Both material and structural ratcheting is considered. For structural ratcheting, the 3Sm rule employed in the ITER Structural Design Criteria is found to be unduly conservative and the accompanying Bree rules are found, in some cases, to be non-conservative. Significant advantage can be gained from using fully plastic models to avoid ratcheting.