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Division Spotlight
Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
Meeting Spotlight
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
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
May 2025
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.
S. K. Ho, L. J. Perkins, S. W. Haney, R. B. Campbell
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 19 | Number 3 | May 1991 | Pages 1322-1326
Result of Large Experiment and Plasma Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST91-A29525
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Several emergency plasma shutdown schemes for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) have been analyzed. The development of these procedures is critical in order to demonstrate a reliable safety system to respond to accidents resulting from failures in burn control systems, plasma facing components, and thermal conversion facilities. The schemes considered include shutting off the heating and fueling systems, triggering an H-mode to L-mode transition, injecting impurities, and disabling vertical stability control systems. Most of these methods are based on active detection and intervention primarily because the power producing element (the plasma) is not in direct communication with the media undergoing the accident condition (the coolant and blanket material). Time dependent simulations indicate that emergency shutdown time without triggering a disruption from the above schemes is only marginally acceptable.