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
March 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
January 2026
Latest News
Fusion energy: Progress, partnerships, and the path to deployment
Over the past decade, fusion energy has moved decisively from scientific aspiration toward a credible pathway to a new energy technology. Thanks to long-term federal support, we have significantly advanced our fundamental understanding of plasma physics—the behavior of the superheated gases at the heart of fusion devices. This knowledge will enable the creation and control of fusion fuel under conditions required for future power plants. Our progress is exemplified by breakthroughs at the National Ignition Facility and the Joint European Torus.
Kazuyuki Takase, Yasuo Ose, Hajime Akimoto
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 39 | Number 2 | March 2001 | Pages 1050-1055
Safety and Environment | doi.org/10.13182/FST01-A11963382
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Damage of cooling tubes of plasma facing components (PFCs) results in water discharge into a vacuum vessel (W) of a fusion reactor. Flashing in vacuum, water pool boiling and impingement-jet on a surface of the PFC are the main heat transfer phenomena responsible for steam production that causes a rapid pressurization of the W. This is called an in-vessel loss-of-coolant accident (LOCA) event or ingress-of-coolant event (ICE). The ICE event is one of the most severe accidents in the fusion reactors.
The integrated ICE test facility was constructed to demonstrate the safety design approach of International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) and obtain validation data for the ITER safety analysis codes. Then, an experimental study was performed using the integrated ICE test facility and at the same time the code validation study with the TRAC code was carried out. The pressure rise characteristics in the current ITER machine during the ICE event were analyzed numerically using the verified TRAC-PF1 code and the effects of the relief pipe diameter and suppression tank volume regarding to the pressure rise due to the ICE events were clarified quantitatively from the present analytical results.