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Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Zap Energy hits 37-million-degree electron temperatures in compact fusion device
Zap Energy announced April 23 that it has reached 1-3 keV plasma electron temperatures—roughly the equivalent of 11 to 37 million degrees Celsius—using its sheared-flow-stabilized Z-pinch approach to fusion. Reaching temperatures above that of the sun’s core (which is 10 million degrees Celsius temperature) is just one hurdle required before any fusion confinement concept can realistically pursue net gain and fusion energy.
J. T. Scoville, M. L. Walker
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 47 | Number 3 | April 2005 | Pages 774-778
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - Plasma Engineering, Heating, Current Drive, and Control | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A780
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Modern tokamaks are highly sophisticated devices consisting of a large number of state-of-the-art systems that must function in unison to obtain a successful plasma discharge. An unsuccessful discharge can result if one or more systems fail, and diagnosis in an efficient and timely manner can be difficult. The resulting reduction in tokamak availability and productivity can be expensive, justifying a significant effort for automated fault diagnosis.For the DIII-D tokamak, a software system has been used for the past 5 years to automatically monitor and test the performance of hundreds of tokamak systems. The Fault Identification and Communication System (FICS) is automatically triggered to run immediately after each tokamak discharge and report its results via a simple color-coded graphical user interface. In addition to saving the operator time, the significant advantage of FICS is its ability to detect insipient faults that could lead to future machine failures. It has been estimated that FICS has saved an average of one to two shots per day, which equates to approximately 5% of all DIII-D pulses. The significant experience gained through the development and use of this post-discharge analysis tool also provides insight into future methods for on-line process monitoring of steady state devices