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Division Spotlight
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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!
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Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
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.
J. S. Jaquez, A. Nikroo, N. A. Hein, W. Sweet
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 63 | Number 2 | March-April 2013 | Pages 226-231
Technical Paper | Selected papers from 20th Target Fabrication Meeting, May 20-24, 2012, Santa Fe, NM, Guest Editor: Robert C. Cook | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-A16342
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Simulations of ignition-scale hohlraums show that the addition to the hohlraum of a submicron-thick Au/B interior liner containing [approximately]20 to 40 at. % B likely reduces laser backscatter by reducing the stimulated Brillouin scattering. By reducing the backscatter, the amount of energy available to compress the inertial confinement fusion capsule is increased while the likelihood of laser damage at National Ignition Facility (NIF) is minimized. A specialized magnetron cosputtering process is used to fabricate Au/B liners between 0.6 and 1.2 m for use on hohlraums shot at NIF to the atomic concentrations of 20 to 40 at. % B. We will discuss recent process improvements, such as LabVIEW process automation, in situ rate and thickness measurements, and optimized coating setup, all of which have increased the hohlraum yield and hohlraum throughput as well as increased control and confidence in Au/B liner thickness and B concentration uniformity and reproducibility. We will also discuss effects of various leaching mechanisms affecting B concentration in the Au/B liner.