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Division Spotlight
Thermal Hydraulics
The division provides a forum for focused technical dialogue on thermal hydraulic technology in the nuclear industry. Specifically, this will include heat transfer and fluid mechanics involved in the utilization of nuclear energy. It is intended to attract the highest quality of theoretical and experimental work to ANS, including research on basic phenomena and application to nuclear system design.
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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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
Dagui Wang, Jin Wang, Liqin Hu, Jie Wu, Fang Wang
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 75 | Number 8 | November 2019 | Pages 1024-1029
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2019.1647082
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The construction of ITER indicates that the development of fusion energy has entered the engineering stage. Reliability assurance, which is essential in the design and safety supervision of a new reactor, is an urgent problem to be solved in the process of fusion reactor engineering. But, up to now, the reliability work of a fusion device has not considered the security of the fusion reactor. This paper proposes a method to establish a reliability index for fusion safety–related components. The reliability index is a useful indicator to evaluate the reliability of the system, and it is also the regulatory basis for regulatory authorities. First, this paper gives the recommended values of probability safety goals for a fusion reactor. Second, the reliability requirements for the fusion safety system that meet the safety goals are calculated. In this part, a Probability Safety Assessment (PSA) is adopted to establish the risk models and calculate the undesired consequences of a fusion reactor. Based on the PSA analysis results, a risk-informed approach is used to categorize the plant structures, systems, and components of the fusion reactor as four categories according to their safety significance. Last, the reliability index of the safety-related components is given based on the results of the risk-informed safety categorization and PSA analysis results. The validation of the reliability index system is still being studied, and this work is expected to support the reliability evaluation and safety supervision of a fusion reactor in the future.