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.
Division Spotlight
Materials Science & Technology
The objectives of MSTD are: promote the advancement of materials science in Nuclear Science Technology; support the multidisciplines which constitute it; encourage research by providing a forum for the presentation, exchange, and documentation of relevant information; promote the interaction and communication among its members; and recognize and reward its members for significant contributions to the field of materials science in nuclear technology.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference Virtual Summit (UWC)
August 11, 2020
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
Aug 2020
Jan 2020
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
July 2020
Nuclear Technology
August 2020
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Penfield and Enos: Outage planning in the COVID-19 era
Penfield
Enos
Energy Harbor’s Beaver Valley plant, located about 34 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, Pa., was one of many nuclear sites preparing for a scheduled outage as the coronavirus pandemic intensified in March. The baseline objective of any planned outage—to complete refueling on time and get back to producing power—was complicated by the need to prevent the transmission of COVID-19.
While over 200 of the plant’s 850 staff members worked from home to support the outage, about 800 contractors were brought in for jobs that could only be done on-site. Nuclear News Staff Writer Susan Gallier talked with Beaver Valley Site Vice President Rod Penfield and General Plant Manager Matt Enos about the planning and communication required.
Beaver Valley can look forward to several more outages in the future, now that plans to shut down the two Westinghouse pressurized water reactors, each rated at about 960 MWe, were reversed in March. “The deactivation announcement happened in the middle of all our planning,” Enos said. “It’s a shame we haven’t had a chance to get together as a large group and celebrate that yet.”
While the focus remains on safe pandemic operations, the site now has two causes for celebration: an outage success and a long future ahead.
A. N. Perevezentsev, L. A. Bernstein, L. A. Rivkis, I. G. Prykina, V. V. Aleksandrov, I. A. Ionessian, M. I. Belyakov, I. B. Kuprianov
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 72 | Number 1 | July 2017 | Pages 1-16
Technical Paper | dx.doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2016.1273659
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The subject of this study is the evaluation of tritium outgassing and removal from metals such as tungsten, beryllium, stainless steel, and copper alloy. In addition, a composite sample assembled from tungsten, copper alloy, and stainless steel was also studied. Samples of individual materials and composite samples were of thicknesses and compositions representing the internal components of the ITER vacuum vessel. The samples of materials were loaded with tritium by exposure to a gaseous tritium-deuterium mixture (about 1:1) at a temperature of 473 K and a pressure of about 0.05 MPa. The rate of outgassing was measured at temperatures of about 295, 308, and 323 K under static or dynamic atmospheres either of ambient air or dry air or argon. The study allows recommendation of conditions for storage of in-vessel components and reduction of the rate of tritium outgassing. The metals’ samples were also subject to study of tritium removal by thermal desorption under purge with argon containing 5 vol % of hydrogen. The study has demonstrated that this detritiation procedure allows for removal of large portions of the tritium inventory and substantial reduction in tritium outgassing rates.
