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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
IAEA again raises global nuclear power projections
Noting recent momentum behind nuclear power, the International Atomic Energy Agency has revised up its projections for the expansion of nuclear power, estimating that global nuclear operational capacity will more than double by 2050—reaching 2.6 times the 2024 level—with small modular reactors expected to play a pivotal role in this high-case scenario.
IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi announced the new projections, contained in the annual report Energy, Electricity, and Nuclear Power Estimates for the Period up to 2050 at the 69th IAEA General Conference in Vienna.
In the report’s high-case scenario, nuclear electrical generating capacity is projected to increase to from 377 GW at the end of 2024 to 992 GW by 2050. In a low-case scenario, capacity rises 50 percent, compared with 2024, to 561 GW. SMRs are projected to account for 24 percent of the new capacity added in the high case and for 5 percent in the low case.
M. Sharpe, W. T. Shmayda, W. U. Schröder
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 70 | Number 1 | July 2016 | Pages 97-111
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST15-198
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The migration of tritium to the surfaces of Aluminum 6061; oxygen-free, high-conductivity copper; and Type 316 stainless steel from the bulk metal was studied using low-pressure Tonks-Langmuir argon plasma. The plasma is shown to be effective at removing tritium from metal surfaces in a controlled manner. Tritium is removed in decreasing quantities with successive plasma exposures, which suggests a depletion of the surface and near-surface-tritium inventories.
A diffusion model was developed to predict tritium migration from the bulk and its accumulation in the water layers present on the metal surface. The model reproduces the rate of tritium regrowth on the surface for all three metals and can be used to calculate the triton solubility in the water layers present on metal surfaces. The ratio of surface-to-bulk solubilities at the water layer–bulk metal interface uniquely determines the concentration ratio between these two media. Removing the tritium-rich water layers induces tritium to migrate from the bulk to the surface. This process is driven by a concentration gradient that develops in the bulk because of the perturbation on the surface.