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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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
October 2025
Latest News
Shifting the paradigm of supply chain
Chad Wolf
When I began my nuclear career, I was coached up in the nuclear energy culture of the day to “run silent, run deep,” a mindset rooted in the U.S. Navy’s submarine philosophy. That was the norm—until Fukushima.
The nuclear renaissance that many had envisioned hit a wall. The focus shifted from expansion to survival. Many utility communications efforts pivoted from silence to broadcast, showcasing nuclear energy’s elegance and reliability. Nevertheless, despite being clean baseload 24/7 power that delivered a 90 percent capacity factor or higher, nuclear energy was painted as risky and expensive (alongside energy policies and incentives that favored renewables).
Economics became a driving force threatening to shutter nuclear power. The Delivering the Nuclear Promise initiative launched in 2015 challenged the industry to sustain high performance yet cut costs by up to 30 percent.
Gediminas Stankunas, Simona Breidokaite, Andrius Tidikas
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 77 | Number 7 | November 2021 | Pages 791-801
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2021.1906153
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Activation inventory data were assessed for different European DEMOnstration Fusion Power Reactor (EU DEMO) vacuum vessel (VV) segments in order to evaluate the activity, dose rates, and decay heat of the structural materials and the impact of heterogeneity as a part of the Safety and Environment project of the EUROfusion/Power Plant Physics Technology program. Activity is a good indicator of the condition of irradiated material while decay heat and dose rate estimates are crucial for power plant operation and public safety. In addition, the VV structures were analyzed in terms of different breeder blanket configurations that were implemented in the model. Helium-cooled pebble bed and water-cooled lithium-lead breeder blanket modules were considered. These modules directly shield the VV from neutron irradiation; therefore, their design has a great influence on subsequent structure activation.
