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Division Spotlight
Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Fusion Science and Technology
May 2025
Latest News
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
A. Zolfaghari, P. Titus, J. Chrzanowski, A. Salehzadeh, F. Dahlgren
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 60 | Number 2 | August 2011 | Pages 658-663
Alternate Concepts & Magnets | Proceedings of the Nineteenth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (TOFE) (Part 2) | doi.org/10.13182/FST11-A12459
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The new ohmic heating (OH) coil and center stack for the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) upgrade are required to meet cooling and structural requirements for operation at the enhanced 1 Tesla toroidal field and 2 MA plasma current. The OH coil is designed to be cooled in the time between discharges by water flowing in the center of the coil conductor. We performed resistive heating and thermal hydraulic analyses to optimize coolant channel size to keep the coil temperature below 100 C and meet the required 20 minute cooling time. Coupled electromagnetic, thermal and structural FEA analyses were performed to determine if the OH coil meets the requirements of the structural design criteria. Structural response of the OH coil to its self-field and the field from other coils was analyzed. A model was developed to analyze the thermal and electromagnetic interaction of centerstack components such as the OH coil, toroidal field (TF) coil inner legs and the Bellville washer preload mechanism. Torsional loads from the TF interaction with the OH and poloidal fields are transferred through the TF flag extensions via a torque transfer coupling to the rest of the tokamak structure. A 3D FEA analysis was performed to qualify this design. The results of these analyses, which will be presented in this paper, have led to the design of OH coil and centerstack components that meet the requirements of the NSTX-upgrade structural design criteria.