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.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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
Oct 2025
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
November 2025
Nuclear Technology
October 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Russia withdraws from 25-year-old weapons-grade plutonium agreement
Russia’s lower house of Parliament, the State Duma, approved a measure to withdraw from a 25-year-old agreement with the United States to cut back on the leftover plutonium from Cold War–era nuclear weapons.
Max Huggenberger, Kenneth R. Schultz
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 4 | Number 3 | November 1983 | Pages 456-467
Technical Papers | Blanket Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST83-A22795
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A preliminary design for a helium-cooled solid breeder blanket for a tokamak fusion reactor has been developed, and its performance looks quite good. The design is capable of bearing a 4 MW/m2 neutron wall load, and the ideal pumping power required for the whole primary helium loop including the steam generators is only 2.5% of the total thermal power. The maximum blanket thickness including the helium duct work is only 860 mm, the minimum thickness is only 730 mm. The design work was focused on the thermalhydraulic aspects, which represent the key problems associated with using helium as a coolant. The present work demonstrates that the potential disadvantages helium has, due to its limited heat transfer capabilities, can be avoided or minimized by an appropriate thermal- hydraulic design. As a result, helium with its many advantages remains a promising fusion blanket coolant.