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
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Jul 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
August 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
July 2025
Latest News
DOE issues new NEPA rule and procedures—and accelerates DOME reactor testing
Meeting a deadline set in President Trump’s May 23 executive order “Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy,” the DOE on June 30 updated information on its National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) rulemaking and implementation procedures and published on its website an interim final rule that rescinds existing regulations alongside new implementing procedures.
James A. Blink, William G. Hoover
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 8 | Number 1 | July 1985 | Pages 1844-1849
Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor | Proceedings of the Sixth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (San Francisco, California, March 3-7, 1985) | doi.org/10.13182/FST85-A40029
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Fragmentation of free liquids in Inertial Confinement Fusion reactors could determine the upper bound on reactor pulse rate because increased surface area will enhance the cooling and condensation of coolant ablated by the fusion x rays. Relaxation from the suddenly (neutron) heated state will move a liquid into the negative pressure region under the liquid-vapor P-V dome. The resulting expansion in a diverging geometry will hydrodynamically force the liquid to fragment, with vapor then forming from the new surfaces to fill the cavities. An energy minimization model is used to determine the fragment size that produces the least amount of non-fragment-center-of-mass energy; i.e., the sum of the surface and dilational kinetic energies. This model predicts fragmentation dependence on original system size and amount of isochoric heating as well as liquid density, Grüneisen parameter, surface tension, and sound speed. A two dimensional molecular dynamics code was developed to test the model at a microscopic scale for the Lennard-Jones fluid with its two adjustable constants chosen to represent lithium. The numerical experiments produced reasonable agreement with the model. Considerable fragmentation is predicted in the high energy density HYLIFE reactor, with minimum fragmentation in other (low energy density) reactors.