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Division Spotlight
Accelerator Applications
The division was organized to promote the advancement of knowledge of the use of particle accelerator technologies for nuclear and other applications. It focuses on production of neutrons and other particles, utilization of these particles for scientific or industrial purposes, such as the production or destruction of radionuclides significant to energy, medicine, defense or other endeavors, as well as imaging and diagnostics.
Meeting Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
Standards Program
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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Nuclear Technology
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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Take steps on SNF and HLW disposal
Matt Bowen
With a new administration and Congress, it is time once again to ponder what will happen—if anything—on U.S. spent nuclear fuel and high-level waste management policy over the next few years. One element of the forthcoming discussion seems clear: The executive and legislative branches are eager to talk about recycling commercial SNF. Whatever the merits of doing so, it does not obviate the need for one or more facilities for disposal of remaining long-lived radionuclides. For that reason, making progress on U.S. disposal capabilities remains urgent, lest the associated radionuclide inventories simply be left for future generations to deal with.
In March, Rick Perry, who was secretary of energy during President Trump’s first administration, observed that during his tenure at the Department of Energy it became clear to him that any plan to move SNF “required some practical consent of the receiving state and local community.”1
Arnold Lumsdaine, Joseph B. Tipton, Jr., Dennis Youchison, Venu Varma, Kirby Logan, Juergen Rapp
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 75 | Number 7 | October 2019 | Pages 674-682
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2019.1637239
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment (MPEX) steady-state linear plasma facility is currently under design at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The facility proposes to produce ITER divertor-relevant plasma conditions with steady-state heat fluxes up to 10 MW/m2 with ion fluxes up to 1024/m2‧s. Plasmas will be produced from a helicon source with additional electron cyclotron and ion cyclotron heating, contained by superconducting magnets. MPEX will be capable of including targets that have been neutron irradiated from the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR) in order to examine the effects of divertor-relevant plasma fluence on neutron-damaged materials. Targets can then be remotely transferred to an exchange chamber and moved into a handling station that is far from the MPEX magnets. Because of the high heat fluxes, the target must be actively cooled. Because the targets are activated, remote handling is required. The challenge of providing both active cooling and remote handling simultaneously has required a design and analysis effort that is the subject of this study.
