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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!
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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.
Alain Godot, Sébastien Colas, Jean-Charles Hubinois
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 54 | Number 1 | July 2008 | Pages 186-188
Technical Paper | Tritium Measurement | doi.org/10.13182/FST08-A1792
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The measurement of the amount of impurities in tritiated gases can be achieved by means of mass spectrometry or gas phase chromatography.A growing number of disadvantages associated to the "life expectancy" of the mass spectrometer and its tricky maintenance (when enclosed in a gloves box) have led us to acquire a micro gas phase chromatograph. This device is based on a modular concept with the injector, the column and the detector packed in a compact unit which is easy to replace. Thanks to constant improvement in the field of capillary column, new micro chromatographs are now able to perform measurement in absence of pre-column and presence of argon instead of nitrogen as a carrier gas. Of importance, this new apparatus allow better performances (running time: 1 m 30 sec, limit of detection: < 10 ppm).However, in normal use, this apparatus requires 800 millibar in the inlet, a pressure that doesn't match with the feature of our process gas. To overcome this inconvenience, we have developed an automatic functioning system with a bellows that samples and compresses the gas to pressures compatible with the micro gas chromatograph.The apparatus and the experimental procedures will be presented as well as experimental performances (reproducibility, detection limits. . .) for some impurities such as nitrogen, oxygen and helium.