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
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Feb 2026
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
February 2026
Nuclear Technology
January 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Playing the “bad guy” to enhance next-generation safety
Sometimes, cops and robbers is more than just a kid’s game. At the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, researchers are channeling their inner saboteurs to discover vulnerabilities in next-generation nuclear reactors, making sure that they’re as safe as possible before they’re even constructed.
Yoshinori Kawamura, Satoshi Konishi, Masataka Nishi
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 45 | Number 1 | January 2004 | Pages 33-40
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST04-A423
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A blanket tritium recovery system that uses an electrochemical hydrogen pump with a protonic conductor membrane is proposed. One of the advantages of this system is the potential for processing the blanket sweep gas without fractionation of hydrogen isotopes and water vapor. In this work, hydrogen in a water molecule is extracted by a hydrogen pump using a Perovskite-type ceramic such as SrCe0.95Yb0.05O3-. The threshold, which corresponds to the energy of H2O decomposition, for hydrogen extraction from the water molecule is 500 to 600 mV at 873 K. The threshold becomes smaller with increases of the partial pressure of the water vapor. In the case of pumping of the H2-H2O mixture gas, transportation of H2 precedes H2O decomposition below the threshold (H2O decomposition voltage), and the threshold becomes larger. In order to process the blanket sweep gas without fractionation of hydrogen isotope and water vapor, comparatively high applied voltage is required.