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Division Spotlight
Robotics & Remote Systems
The Mission of the Robotics and Remote Systems Division is to promote the development and application of immersive simulation, robotics, and remote systems for hazardous environments for the purpose of reducing hazardous exposure to individuals, reducing environmental hazards and reducing the cost of performing work.
Meeting Spotlight
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2023)
February 6–9, 2023
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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
February 2023
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
A review of workforce trends in the nuclear community
The nuclear community is undergoing a moment of unprecedented interest and growth not seen in decades. The passage of the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act are providing a multitude of new funding opportunities for the nuclear community, and not just the current fleet. A mix of technologies and reactor types are being evaluated and deployed, with Vogtle Units 3 and 4 coming on line later this year, the Advanced Reactor Demonstration Projects of X-energy and TerraPower, and NuScale’s work with Utah Associated Municipal Power Systems to build a first-of-a-kind small modular reactor, making this is an exciting time to join the nuclear workforce.
Jonathan Coburn, Mohamed Bourham
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 72 | Number 4 | November 2017 | Pages 692-698
Technical Note | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2017.1352426
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Innovative materials are investigated using a simulated electrothermal (ET) plasma to characterize erosion characteristics under ITER-relevant off-normal conditions. The tungsten alternatives investigated are mono-crystalline silicon carbides and MAX Phase ceramics. Preliminary code simulations using the ETFLOW plasma code are presented to assess erosive behavior in preparation for future experiments at ORNL’s electrothermal high heat flux experiment and the DiMES experiments for induced disruption on the DIII-D tokamak. Results indicate that erosion properties for SiC and two commercially available MAX Phases, Ti3SiC2 and Ti2AlC, compare well with tungsten and other ITER relevant components. A material-specific ablation constant, measured as total mass removed per incident heat flux per second, serves as a means for directly comparing erosion properties. Tungsten possesses the highest ablation constant value when compared to carbon, beryllium and the alternative materials α-6H SiC, Ti3SiC2, and Ti2AlC. The ablation thickness, calculated from the ablation constant and the specific density of the material, provides a comparison of surface thickness lost during a given off-normal event. Carbon (4.25 cm3/MJ) and tungsten (5.98 cm3/MJ) possess the lowest values. The alternative materials Ti3SiC2 (7.32 cm3/MJ) and α-6H SiC (8.44 cm3/MJ) exhibit the next best values, with Ti2AlC being the least effective (9.35 cm3/MJ). SiC shows the best vapor shielding efficiency of the three alternative materials, with Ti3SiC2 and Ti2AlC giving similar efficiencies. Taking into account vapor shielding effects using both opacity and fractional models, SiC exhibits the best ablation characteristics of the three materials in terms of thickness loss, with Ti3SiC2 giving similar results and overall appearing the superior of the two MAX Phases.
