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
Jan 2026
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
January 2026
Nuclear Technology
December 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
November 2025
Latest News
2025: The year in nuclear
As Nuclear News has done since 2022, we have compiled a review of the nuclear news that filled headlines and sparked conversations in the year just completed. Departing from the chronological format of years past, we open with the most impactful news of 2025: a survey of actions and orders of the Trump administration that are reshaping nuclear research, development, deployment, and commercialization. We then highlight some of the top news in nuclear restarts, new reactor testing programs, the fuel supply chain and broader fuel cycle, and more.
J. D. Galambos, Y-K. M. Peng, L. J. Perkins
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 19 | Number 3 | May 1991 | Pages 1463-1468
ITER | Proceedings of the Ninth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Oak Brook, Illinois, October 7-11, 1990) | doi.org/10.13182/FST91-A29547
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The nominal International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) configuration is a double-null (DN) divertor, which requires precise plasma vertical position control. Vertical displacements of only about 1 cm (out of a plasma height of 4.7 m) are estimated to destroy the up/down symmetric distribution of power flow to the divertor plates. As an alternate configuration to avoid this difficulty, we look at the single-null (SN) option, where all the charged power flow is deposited on the lower divertor plate. The primary consideration in this study is that of technology phase performance (maximum neutron wall load) for the ITER divertor heat load and plasma constraints. With regard to the divertor heat loads, the SN case has the advantages of (a) longer scrape-off field line connection lengths and (b) more vertical space, which allows a greater spreading of the heat load on the divertor plates. These advantages offset the SN case disadvantage of having fewer divertor plates, and therefore the potential for higher heat fluxes for a given core plasma condition. The attainable wall loads for the SN and DN divertors are found to be similar for steady-state and hybrid operation scenarios.