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
Playing the “bad guy” to enhance next-generation safety
Sometimes, cops and robbers is more than just a kid’s game. At the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, researchers are channeling their inner saboteurs to discover vulnerabilities in next-generation nuclear reactors, making sure that they’re as safe as possible before they’re even constructed.
Panos J. Karditsas, Neill P. Taylor
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 44 | Number 1 | July 2003 | Pages 227-231
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - Divertor and Plasma-Facing Components | doi.org/10.13182/FST03-A338
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
As part of the European Power Plant Conceptual Study, two different divertor designs were proposed, based on previous work on HETS (High Efficiency Thermal Shield) performed at FZK and ENEA. The coolant is helium gas at pressures in the range 10-14 MPa and the inlet temperatures are in the range of 500-800°C. The geometrical complexity of the designs made prediction of heat transfer coefficients, needed for conducting thermal and structural analysis, difficult, and the calculated values from empirical correlations uncertain. This paper presents and summarises results of thermal-fluid calculations performed on both divertor concepts and gives estimates of effective values of heat transfer coefficients based on the local flow conditions and temperature distributions. The agreement of calculations with experimental values for similar conditions, inspires confidence in results from such calculations, and demonstrates that computational fluid dynamic finite element codes can accurately predict behaviour, and can be used to optimise the designs.