ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Feb 2026
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
February 2026
Nuclear Technology
January 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Playing the “bad guy” to enhance next-generation safety
Sometimes, cops and robbers is more than just a kid’s game. At the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, researchers are channeling their inner saboteurs to discover vulnerabilities in next-generation nuclear reactors, making sure that they’re as safe as possible before they’re even constructed.
Yuri Igitkhanov, Gerald Kent McCormick, Peter Eckhard Grigull
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 46 | Number 1 | July 2004 | Pages 101-105
Technical Paper | Stellarators | doi.org/10.13182/FST04-A545
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A plausible physical explanation of a new advanced high-density H (HDH)-mode operational regime on the W7-AS stellarator is discussed. The HDH regime can be achieved only under a high rate of particle fueling during the starting phase of the discharge. It can be shown that at high enough fueling rates, the density profile grows at the source position, because the relatively weaker diffusivity hinders redistribution of the plasma. This leads to formation of a density gradient at the edge and brings about the radial electric field, which suppresses the plasma turbulence [the edge transport barrier (ETB) formation]. The appearance of the ETB depends on the initial condition, i.e., on the fueling rate, but a steady-state operation depends on the average density value. This critical value can be assessed from the energy and particle balance at the edge, where the transport coefficients depend on the plasma parameters in such a way that bifurcation can occur. The bifurcation occurs between two stable solutions, which are characterized by different values of the particle flux and energy confinement time, reminiscent of the normal confinement and HDH stages. The scaling analysis shows that the threshold average density required for transition increases weakly with power and inverse aspect ratio.