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Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Glass strategy: Hanford’s enhanced waste glass program
The mission of the Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection (ORP) is to complete the safe cleanup of waste resulting from decades of nuclear weapons development. One of the most technologically challenging responsibilities is the safe disposition of approximately 56 million gallons of radioactive waste historically stored in 177 tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
ORP has a clear incentive to reduce the overall mission duration and cost. One pathway is to develop and deploy innovative technical solutions that can advance baseline flow sheets toward higher efficiency operations while reducing identified risks without compromising safety. Vitrification is the baseline process that will convert both high-level and low-level radioactive waste at Hanford into a stable glass waste form for long-term storage and disposal.
Although vitrification is a mature technology, there are key areas where technology can further reduce operational risks, advance baseline processes to maximize waste throughput, and provide the underpinning to enhance operational flexibility; all steps in reducing mission duration and cost.
N. D. Viza, M. H. Romanofsky, M. J. Moynihan, D. R. Harding
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 70 | Number 2 | August-September 2016 | Pages 219-225
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST15-216
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A T-junction microfluidic device consists of one microchannel connected to a second microchannel at 90 deg. The size of the emulsions that form at the junction depends on the dimensions of the channel and the properties of the immiscible fluids flowing through them. Micron-sized emulsions are easily formed in small channels where interfacial tension forces dominate, but it is more difficult to form larger emulsions that could be used to produce inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets. The concept and feasibility of using this method to mass-produce millimeter-sized ICF targets are presented.
The experimental data presented here will demonstrate the competing contribution of the fluids’ surface tension and fluid velocity to forming and controlling the volume of millimeter-sized oil-in-water emulsions. The oil-in-water emulsion is the first step in the process of making resorcinol-formaldehyde foam targets (1 to 4 mm in diameter). Adding a surfactant to the aqueous phase lowered the aqueous-solid surface energy, which allowed for greater flexibility in manufacturing T-junctions. Equally important, although it also lowered the interfacial surface tension, the emulsions remained encapsulated by adjusting the flow velocities. The effect of the surfactant on the completing shear, viscous, and surface energy forces involved in the microencapsulation mechanism is described. Oil-in-water emulsions, 1.32 to 8.32 mm in diameter, and water-in-oil emulsions, 1.10 to 3.2 mm diameter, were formed. A protocol is presented for tuning the droplet diameter to a desired value based on the capillary number and the relative fluid velocities ratio (which must be below 0.5). A linear regression showed the relationship between the fluid velocities and desired droplet diameter. Control of the outer diameter was demonstrated over a 1.75- to 4.14-mm-diameter range with a 426- to 900-μm wall thickness.