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Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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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Latest News
Proving DRACO will deliver
The United States is now closer than it has been in over five decades to launching the first nuclear thermal rocket into space, thanks to DRACO—the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Orbit.
R. W. Moir, R. H. Bulmer, K. Gulec, P. Fogarty, B. Nelson, M. Ohnishi, M. Rensink, T. D. Rognlien, J. F. Santarius, D. K. Sze
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 39 | Number 2 | March 2001 | Pages 758-767
Chamber Technology | doi.org/10.13182/FST01-A11963330
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A thick flowing layer of liquid (e.g., flibe–a molten salt, Sn80Li20 or Li –liquid metals) protects the structural walls of the field-reversed configuration (FRC) so that they can last the life of the plant even with intense 14 MeV neutron bombardment from the D-T fusion reaction. The surface temperature of the liquid rises as it passes from the inlet nozzles to the exit nozzles due to absorption of line and bremsstrahlung radiation, and neutrons. The surface temperature can be reduced by enhancement of convection near the surface to transport hot surface liquid into the cooler interior. The resulting temperature for evaporation estimates called, Teff, is 660, 714 and 460°C for flibe, SnLi and Li, where thermal conductivity was assumed enhanced by a factor of ten for flibe. The corresponding evaporative flux from the wall must result in an acceptable impurity level in the core plasma. The shielding of the core by the edge plasma is modeled with a 2D transport code for the resulting impurity ions; these ions are either swept out to the distant end tanks, or diffuse to the hot plasma core. The calculations show core impurity levels adequately low for Li and Sn80Li20 but is about ten times too large for flibe. An auxiliary plasma between the edge plasma and the liquid wall can further attenuate evaporating flux of atoms and molecules by ionization. The current in this auxiliary plasma might serve as the antenna for the current drive method, which produces a rotating magnetic field.