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
May 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2026
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
South Korea looks to Southern and NuScale
This week, the United States and South Korea have taken two steps toward deepening their nuclear partnership through two notable announcements. First, the majority-state owned Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power signed a memorandum of understanding with Birmingham, Ala.–based Southern Nuclear.
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.