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.
Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2024
Nuclear Technology
May 2024
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Commercial nuclear innovation "new space" age
In early 2006, a start-up company launched a small rocket from a tiny island in the Pacific. It exploded, showering the island with debris. A year later, a second launch attempt sent a rocket to space but failed to make orbit, burning up in the atmosphere. Another year brought a third attempt—and a third failure. The following month, in September 2008, the company used the last of its funds to launch a fourth rocket. It reached orbit, making history as the first privately funded liquid-fueled rocket to do so.
A. Krämer-Flecken
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 61 | Number 2 | February 2012 | Pages 376-383
Diagnostics | Proceedings of the Tenth Carolus Magnus Summer School on Plasma and Fusion Energy Physics | doi.org/10.13182/FST12-A13524
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The measurement of plasma quantities is a difficult task since the plasma cannot be treated like normal material. Any measurement of plasma quantities with solid probes will yield interactions with the plasma and causes a perturbation of the measured quantity. Inside a hot plasma those methods are not applicable, since they lead to a disruption of the discharge. In addition microwave diagnostics have no big needs in terms of space requirements if coupled to a plasma. Mirrors needed for the most optical diagnostics will become a problem due to erosion and deposition of the mirror surfaces in future fusion devices as ITER and DEMO. Also in this sense microwave diagnostics are less demanding. However, this puts some pressure on a future generation of scientist to develop new methods to replace optical based diagnostics by those using microwaves to probe the plasma.