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Division Spotlight
Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
Meeting Spotlight
2023 ANS Winter Conference and Expo
November 12–15, 2023
Washington, D.C.|Washington Hilton
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!
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
October 2023
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
The Ubiquity of PFAS: An Emerging Issue in Decommissioning
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), an anthropogenic class of several thousand chemicals made for use in products such as nonstick cookware, water-, grease-, and stain-resistant materials, surfactants, and fire suppression foams [1], are emerging as a complicating factor in nuclear decommissioning. These chemicals, which have been manufactured globally, including in the United States, have gained regulatory and public attention due to their persistence and ubiquity in the environment, ability to be detected at low parts-per-trillion levels, and health-based standards set at levels hundreds to thousands of times lower than more classic contaminants such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
Lee C. Cadwallader
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 72 | Number 3 | October 2017 | Pages 461-468
Technical Note | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2017.1330639
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
As fusion researchers look toward the future, there have been discussions on what the plant operation goals should be for a demonstration fusion power plant (DEMO). The U.S. Research Needs Workshop (ReNeW) in 2009 stated that power producers (the companies owning power plants) could not expect an ultimate fusion power plant availability of 80% or more if a DEMO reactor cannot demonstrate a 50% or higher availability. The ReNeW panel also stated that achieving 50% availability with a DEMO plant would be a huge accomplishment. Other recent DEMO design studies have given goals for plant availability as well. This technical note presents historical plant availability values of new technology fission power plants to compare fission achievements with the suggested goals for fusion DEMO plant designs. Demonstration fission plants that met or exceeded 40% average annual availability were generally considered to be successful. These data help to support the goal values that have been put forward in various studies.