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The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
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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
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.
R. M. Hunt, M. Narula, M. A. Ulrickson, T. T. Martin, A. Ying
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 56 | Number 1 | July 2009 | Pages 38-42
ITER | Eighteenth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Part 1) | doi.org/10.13182/FST09-A8872
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Understanding the manner in which the First Wall Qualification Mockup (FWQM) responds structurally to simulated ITER conditions is important to the establishment of a reliable first wall. This paper provides a thermal and structural response analysis for the first round of qualification tests performed at Sandia National Laboratories. The results display the stresses and strains created in the FWQM as a result of the thermal expansion that occurred when subjected to cyclic heat flux under simulated ITER normal and MARFE conditions. From this structural response, further insight may be gained into the likelihood of fatigue failure of the Beryllium//CuCrZr interface once the first wall is in operation in ITER. While fully determining the reliability of this joint is beyond the scope of this study, some suggestions are made as to how this topic might be addressed with further research. Also investigated are the thermal patterns seen during testing that indicated slight variation from the intended test parameters. It is shown that these disparities from the ideal test parameters do not significantly affect the qualification of the FWQM.