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
Jan 2026
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
January 2026
Nuclear Technology
December 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
November 2025
Latest News
From Capitol Hill: Nuclear is back, critical for America’s energy future
The U.S. House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Energy convened its first hearing of the year, “American Energy Dominance: Dawn of the New Nuclear Era,” on January 7, where lawmakers and industry leaders discussed how nuclear energy can help meet surging electricity demand driven by artificial intelligence, data centers, advanced manufacturing, and national security needs.
A. Ying, N. Morley, K. Gulec, B. Nelson, M. Youssef, M. Abdou
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 34 | Number 3 | November 1998 | Pages 855-862
Fusion Blanket and Shield Technology (Poster Session) | doi.org/10.13182/FST98-A11963719
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The attractive features and scientific challenges offered by the liquid wall systems render them strong candidates for investigation in the APEX project[1]. In particular, their high power density capabilities make the fusion reactors economically competitive. In this paper, as part of evolving a practical design based on this evolutionary idea, issues concerning thermalhydraulics of liquid surface first wall/blankets were analyzed. Design approaches as presently envisioned include both liquid films over the solid surface and gravity driven thick liquid jets using lithium and flibe as working fluids. The analyses involved defining liquid systems operating conditions, such as velocity and inlet/outlet temperatures, as well as to calculate free surface temperature so that the evaporation rate from the free surface would not jeopardize plasma operation while maintaining the liquid temperature within the operating windows for high thermal efficiencies. All analyses were performed for a neutron wall load of 10 MW/m2 and its corresponding surface heat flux of 2 MW/m2. The results indicated that high velocities, hard x-ray spectra and turbulent heat transfer enhancement were necessary conditions for keeping flibe first wall temperature low. On the other hand, at velocities of 20 m/s or higher, it appears possible to maintain lithium film evaporation rate below 1020#/m2s in an ARIES-RS type configuration. Nevertheless, present analyses have not uncovered any basic flaws or major shortcomings in the underlying scientific or technical arguments for the concepts. Yet, engineering innovations of how to maintain and control the flow and the associated analyses are still needed.