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Division Spotlight
Mathematics & Computation
Division members promote the advancement of mathematical and computational methods for solving problems arising in all disciplines encompassed by the Society. They place particular emphasis on numerical techniques for efficient computer applications to aid in the dissemination, integration, and proper use of computer codes, including preparation of computational benchmark and development of standards for computing practices, and to encourage the development on new computer codes and broaden their use.
Meeting Spotlight
Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space (NETS 2025)
May 4–8, 2025
Huntsville, AL|Huntsville Marriott and the Space & Rocket Center
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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May 2025
Latest News
Delivering new nuclear on time, the first time
Mark Rinehart
The nuclear industry is entering a period of renewed urgency, driven by the need for stable baseload power, heightened energy security concerns, and expanded defense infrastructure. Now more than ever, we must deliver new nuclear projects on time and on budget to maintain public trust and industry momentum.
The importance of execution certainty cannot be overstated—public trust, industry investment, and future deployment all hinge on our ability to deliver these projects successfully. However, history has shown that cost overruns and schedule delays have eroded confidence in the industry’s ability to deliver nuclear construction. As we embark on many first-of-a-kind (FOAK) reactor builds, fuel cycle infrastructure projects, and extensive defense-related nuclear projects, we must ensure that execution certainty is no longer an aspiration—it is an expectation.
Y. K. M. Peng et al.
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 56 | Number 2 | August 2009 | Pages 957-964
Power Plants, Demo, and Next Steps | Eighteenth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Part 2) | doi.org/10.13182/FST09-A9034
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The use of a fusion component testing facility to study and establish, during the ITER era, the remaining scientific and technical knowledge needed by fusion Demo is considered and described in this paper. This use aims to test components in an integrated fusion nuclear environment, for the first time, to discover and understand the underpinning physical properties, and to develop improved components for further testing, in a time-efficient manner. It requires a design with extensive modularization and remote handling of activated components, and flexible hot-cell laboratories. It further requires reliable plasma conditions to avoid disruptions and minimize their impact, and designs to reduce the divertor heat flux to the level of ITER design. As the plasma duration is extended through the planned ITER level (∼103 s) and beyond, physical properties with increasing time constants, progressively for ∼104 s, ∼105s, and ∼106 s, would become accessible for testing and R&D. The longest time constants of these are likely to be of the order of a week (∼106 s). Progressive stages of research operation are envisioned in deuterium, deuterium-tritium for the ITER duration, and deuterium-tritium with increasingly longer plasma durations. The fusion neutron fluence and operational duty factor anticipated for this "scientific exploration" phase of a component test facility are estimated to be up to 1 MW-yr/m2 and up to 10%, respectively.