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Robotics & Remote Systems
The Mission of the Robotics and Remote Systems Division is to promote the development and application of immersive simulation, robotics, and remote systems for hazardous environments for the purpose of reducing hazardous exposure to individuals, reducing environmental hazards and reducing the cost of performing work.
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International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
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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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Latest News
Argonne’s METL gears up to test more sodium fast reactor components
Argonne National Laboratory has successfully swapped out an aging cold trap in the sodium test loop called METL (Mechanisms Engineering Test Loop), the Department of Energy announced April 23. The upgrade is the first of its kind in the United States in more than 30 years, according to the DOE, and will help test components and operations for the sodium-cooled fast reactors being developed now.
Alan R. Krauss, A. B. DeWald, P. Scott, H. Savage
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 19 | Number 3 | May 1991 | Pages 913-920
Advanced Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/FST91-A29461
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The next generation of long pulse fusion devices will impose severe requirements on the properties of plasma-facing materials. In devices such as ITER, a divertor design is being considered, using a divertor plate which would be either tungsten or a low-Z material such as graphite or beryllium. Graphite and beryllium have a relatively high light ion erosion rate. Tungsten has a much lower sputtering rate for light ion impact, but it is subject to runaway self-sputtering. Because of its limited thermal conductivity, it must be used as a relatively thin plate which might be subject to damage during a disruption. Strongly segregating lithium alloys have been proposed as a means of producing a self-sustaining low-Z overlayer which lowers plasma Zeff and resists self-sputtering. Aluminum-lithium alloys are among the better-characterized lithium-bearing alloys, and it has been demonstrated that lithium segregates strongly in aluminum. However, aluminum has a relatively low melting point, and for low lithium concentrations, the lithium diffusion rate is too slow to replenish lithium at the rate at which it is eroded by the incoming plasma. It has been suggested previously that the β phase Al-Li alloy (48–54 at.% Li) should have high enough diffusivity to be able to replenish surface lithium, and that incorporation of the β-phase AlLi in a composite with tungsten would provide improved high temperature strength and melt layer stability, along with significantly better thermal conductivity than pure tungsten. Such a composite has been fabricated, as well as a variation containing titanium as a means of controlling oxidation at grain boundaries. The Li overlayer formation, erosion, and replenishment are characterized for the β-phase LiAl alloy, and W-AlLi and W-Ti-AlLi composites. It is found that Li diffusion is extremely rapid, and the composites form an oxygen-free Li overlayer which is stable under continuous ion beam sputtering.