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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
WIPP improves utility shaft safety, begins infrastructure project
Harrison Western Shaft Sinkers (HWSS), the company drilling a new utility shaft at the Department of Energy’s Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in New Mexico, has retained a safety culture expert following a near-miss accident in the shaft late last year. The safety expert will conduct monthly facilitated discussions with crews working on the shaft to reinforce expectations for identifying concerns regarding unsafe circumstances, according to a recent report by the Defense Nuclear Facilities Safety Board (DNFSB).
B. Sims, R. S. Bean, C. K. Choi
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 68 | Number 3 | October 2015 | Pages 711-714
Technical Note | Proceedings of TOFE-2014 | doi.org/10.13182/FST14-991
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A team at the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics has been working for several years to develop the Gas Dynamic Trap Mirror Neutron Source (GDT-NS) for fusion materials irradiation. In 2010 they optimized the design for a transmutation mission forecasting a 16 meter DT plasma with a fusion power of 15 MW and neutrons preferentially emitted into blankets placed around the mirror turning points. While this remains to be demonstrated experimentally, it is intriguing to explore what could be done with a low fusion power neutron source.
The GDT-NS team has previously modeled the burning of minor actinides. The work presented here builds on this by examining the burning of plutonium starting with transuranics recovered from spent nuclear fuel. It was found that a GDT plutonium burner with two blankets could eliminate nearly the plutonium produced in a single light water reactor core per full power year, 249 kg. By increasing the average blanket power with regular refueling, this quantity was increased to 381 kg per full power year. Next followed a preliminary overview of a GDT disposition blanket to meet US treaty commitments in burning surplus military plutonium.