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.
P. B. Thompson for the ATF Team
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 8 | Number 1 | July 1985 | Pages 450-455
Large Project | Proceedings of the Sixth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (San Francisco, California, March 3-7, 1985) | doi.org/10.13182/FST85-A40084
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Advanced Toroidal Facility (ATF) is a new magnetic plasma confinement device, under construction at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), which will lead to improvements in toroidal magnetic fusion reactors. ATF is a type of stellarator known as a torsatron which theoretically has the capability to operate at ≥8% beta in steady state. The ATF plasma has a major radius of 2.1 m, an average minor radius of 0.3 m, and a field of 2 T for a 5-s duration or 1 T steady state. The ATF device consists of a helical field (HF) coil set, a set of poloidal field (PF) coils, an exterior shell structure to support the coils, and a thin, helically contoured vacuum vessel inside the coils. The ATF replaces the ISX-B tokamak at ORNL and will use the ISX-B auxiliary systems, including 4 MW of neutral injection heating and 0.2 MW of electron cyclotron heating. ATF is scheduled to start operation in the fall of 1986. An overview of the ATF device is presented, including details of the construction process envisioned.