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Education, Training & Workforce Development
The Education, Training & Workforce Development Division provides communication among the academic, industrial, and governmental communities through the exchange of views and information on matters related to education, training and workforce development in nuclear and radiological science, engineering, and technology. Industry leaders, education and training professionals, and interested students work together through Society-sponsored meetings and publications, to enrich their professional development, to educate the general public, and to advance nuclear and radiological science and engineering.
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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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February 2024
Latest News
Can hydrogen be the transportation fuel in an otherwise nuclear economy?
Let’s face it: The global economy should be powered primarily by nuclear power. And it probably will by the end of this century, with a still-significant assist from renewables and hydro. Once nuclear systems are dominant, the costs come down to where gas is now; and when carbon emissions are reduced to a small portion of their present state, it will become obvious that most other sources are only good in niche settings. I mean, why use small modular reactors to load-follow when they can just produce that power instead of buffering it?
M. R. Brown, M. Kaur
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 75 | Number 4 | May 2019 | Pages 275-282
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2019.1579622
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Magnetothermodynamics is the study of compression and expansion of magnetized plasma with an eye toward identifying equations of state (EOSs) for magneto-inertial fusion experiments. We present recent results from Swarthmore Spheromak Experiment (SSX) experiments on the thermodynamics of compressed magnetized plasmas called Taylor states. In these experiments, we generate twisted flux ropes of magnetized, relaxed plasma accelerated from one end of a 1.5-m-long copper flux conserver and observe their compression in a closed conducting boundary installed at the other end. Plasma parameters are measured during compression. The instances of ion heating during compression are identified by constructing a pressure-volume diagram using measured density, temperature, and volume of the magnetized plasma. While we only measure compression up to 30%, we speculate that if higher compression ratios could be achieved, the compressed Taylor states could form the basis of a new kind of fusion engine. The theoretically predicted magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) and double-adiabatic [Chew-Goldberger-Low (CGL)] EOSs are compared to experimental measurements to estimate the adiabatic nature of the compressed plasma. Since our magnetized plasmas relax to an equilibrium described by MHD, one might expect their thermodynamics to be governed by the corresponding EOS. However, we find that the MHD EOS is not supported by our data. Our results are more consistent with the parallel CGL EOS suggesting that these weakly collisional plasmas have most of their proton energy in the direction parallel to the magnetic field.