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
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Feb 2026
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
February 2026
Nuclear Technology
January 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
DOE announces NEPA exclusion for advanced reactors
The Department of Energy has announced that it is establishing a categorical exclusion for the application of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) procedures to the authorization, siting, construction, operation, reauthorization, and decommissioning of advanced nuclear reactors.
According to the DOE, this significant change, which goes into effect today, “is based on the experience of DOE and other federal agencies, current technologies, regulatory requirements, and accepted industry practice.”
Balabhadra Misra, Robert G. Clemmer, Dale L. Smith
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 4 | Number 2 | September 1983 | Pages 253-262
Technical Paper | Special Section Content / Blanket Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST83-A22817
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Steady-state thermal-hydraulic analyses were carried out for the DEMO/STARFIRE fusion reactor based on solid breeder blankets and pressurized water as the coolant. The results of the parametric studies show that a coolant in-tube design, i.e., coolant tubes embedded in solid breeder blanket, with a contact resistance between the coolant tube and the solid breeder tailored to maintain the operating temperature window (i.e., the maximum and the minimum temperature imposed on the solid breeder) is viable. However, design of such a solid breeder blanket will present serious challenges because of uncertainty in the thermophysical properties of breeder materials, the narrow operating temperature window, the close manufacturing tolerances necessary to control the gap conductance, the sensitivity of tritium inventory and tritium extraction to breeder temperature distribution, and the deleterious effect of neutron irradiation on breeder material properties. The study shows that even modest uncertainties in the thermal conductivity of solid breeders, interfacial gap conductances, and operating power levels can have significant impact on blanket design. Therefore, the designer should include the expected variations in these parameters. Experimental programs are needed to quantify the above factors and to develop methods (e.g., insulated coatings) for gap conductance control and in situ recovery of tritium via helium purge gas channels.