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Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
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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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Glass strategy: Hanford’s enhanced waste glass program
The mission of the Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection (ORP) is to complete the safe cleanup of waste resulting from decades of nuclear weapons development. One of the most technologically challenging responsibilities is the safe disposition of approximately 56 million gallons of radioactive waste historically stored in 177 tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
ORP has a clear incentive to reduce the overall mission duration and cost. One pathway is to develop and deploy innovative technical solutions that can advance baseline flow sheets toward higher efficiency operations while reducing identified risks without compromising safety. Vitrification is the baseline process that will convert both high-level and low-level radioactive waste at Hanford into a stable glass waste form for long-term storage and disposal.
Although vitrification is a mature technology, there are key areas where technology can further reduce operational risks, advance baseline processes to maximize waste throughput, and provide the underpinning to enhance operational flexibility; all steps in reducing mission duration and cost.
Michael Andersen, Nasr M. Ghoniem
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 52 | Number 3 | October 2007 | Pages 579-583
Technical Paper | The Technology of Fusion Energy - High Heat Flux Components | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1551
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Tungsten is a candidate material for a variety of applications in Magnetic and Inertial Fusion Energy systems. Experimental data show that the surface of tungsten exposed to laser, ion, and X-ray irradiation undergoes substantial roughening. Control of surface conditions is essential to the design of these systems, since it can lead to crack formation, adverse effects on heat absorption because of emissivity changes, and eventual failure.We first review recent experimental data on the effects of laser, ion and X-ray energetic pulses on the evolution of a surface to identify the variety of patterns and length scales and their dependence on the type and magnitude of irradiation pulses. Then we present a model for the evolution of surface roughness as a result of the balance between destabilizing elastic strain energy caused by thermomechanical strains and near surface accumulation of defects on the one hand, and stabilizing surface and near surface atomic diffusion on the other. Results of the model determine the conditions for surface roughness evolution and the effects of radiation fluence and pulse intensity on surface morphology.
