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Division Spotlight
Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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
Glass strategy: Hanford’s enhanced waste glass program
The mission of the Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection (ORP) is to complete the safe cleanup of waste resulting from decades of nuclear weapons development. One of the most technologically challenging responsibilities is the safe disposition of approximately 56 million gallons of radioactive waste historically stored in 177 tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
ORP has a clear incentive to reduce the overall mission duration and cost. One pathway is to develop and deploy innovative technical solutions that can advance baseline flow sheets toward higher efficiency operations while reducing identified risks without compromising safety. Vitrification is the baseline process that will convert both high-level and low-level radioactive waste at Hanford into a stable glass waste form for long-term storage and disposal.
Although vitrification is a mature technology, there are key areas where technology can further reduce operational risks, advance baseline processes to maximize waste throughput, and provide the underpinning to enhance operational flexibility; all steps in reducing mission duration and cost.
A. N. Bukin, S. A. Marunich, Yu S. Pak, I. L. Rastunova, Mikhail B. Rozenkevich, A. Yu. Chebotov
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 78 | Number 8 | November 2022 | Pages 595-606
Critical Review | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2022.2099180
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Based on a thermodynamic analysis of potentially applicable methods for water detritiation, it is concluded that the most promising methods are water distillation and chemical isotope exchange (ChIE) between hydrogen and water. Data on the mass transfer characteristics of these separation methods for various types of contact devices in countercurrent separation columns are presented. Installations for detritiation of light water are compared using the ITER reactor project as an example, and advantages and disadvantages of the methods are analyzed. Taking into account information about existing or planned water detritiation installations in different countries of the world, the conditions for the preferential application of ChIE technology are considered.
