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Aerospace Nuclear Science & Technology
Organized to promote the advancement of knowledge in the use of nuclear science and technologies in the aerospace application. Specialized nuclear-based technologies and applications are needed to advance the state-of-the-art in aerospace design, engineering and operations to explore planetary bodies in our solar system and beyond, plus enhance the safety of air travel, especially high speed air travel. Areas of interest will include but are not limited to the creation of nuclear-based power and propulsion systems, multifunctional materials to protect humans and electronic components from atmospheric, space, and nuclear power system radiation, human factor strategies for the safety and reliable operation of nuclear power and propulsion plants by non-specialized personnel and more.
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Nuclear and Emerging Technologies for Space (NETS 2025)
May 4–8, 2025
Huntsville, AL|Huntsville Marriott and the Space & Rocket Center
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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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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.
C. Darbos, R. Magne, A. Arnold, H. O. Prinz, M. Thumm, F. Bouquey, J. P. Hogge, R. Lambert, M. Lennholm, C. Liévin, E. Traisnel
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 56 | Number 3 | October 2009 | Pages 1205-1218
Technical Papers | Tore Supra Special Issue | doi.org/10.13182/FST09-A9174
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) system capable of delivering 2.4 MW cw has been designed to be built at Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique, Cadarache, for the Tore Supra (TS) experiment, to provide plasma heating and current drive by electron cyclotron resonance interaction.The planned system was composed of a generator using six gyrotrons 500 kW for 5 s or 400 kW cw working at 118 GHz. Six transmission lines made of corrugated waveguide, 63.5-mm diameter, carry the HE11 mode to one antenna composed of six fixed mirrors and three independently movable mirrors for the adjustment of the injection angles of the rf beams.The antenna was built and installed in TS, and all transmission line components ordered and installed between the gyrotron locations and the antenna. In the same way, the required six oil tanks, the six cryomagnets, and the six modulating anode devices were designed and manufactured.In parallel, after demonstration in the factory of proper operation of the prototype gyrotron, the manufacture of a first so-called series gyrotron was made. But this gyrotron experienced hard limitations (overheating inducing prohibited outgassing, parasitic oscillations) during the long-pulse tests in Cadarache, and the achieved performance was 300 kW for 110 s. A new study was then carried out in collaboration with Thales Electron Devices, the EURATOM-CEA Association, and the EURATOM-Confédération Suisse Association to understand and overcome the limitations, which led to the construction of a new modified gyrotron.During the tests in factory of this new gyrotron, the output beam showed two peaks, a pattern never predicted by simulations. The gyrotron was nevertheless transferred to Cadarache for long-pulse testing, but an arc on the windows definitely stopped the tests.To understand the cause of the observed two peaks, various low-level tests were then performed on a model of the mode converter with different shapes for the launcher, but without real improvement. Besides measurements, the use of a new software, Surf3D, based on integral equations and providing a complete three-dimensional modeling, showed that the problem mainly comes from the third mirror, whose curvature is too high and consequently not well taken into account by the calculation.These technological problems have seriously delayed the development of the gyrotrons; as a consequence, only two tubes (intermediate developments) are presently available on TS to inject 700 kW in 5-s pulses.In spite of this relatively low power, the localized absorption property of electron cyclotron waves has been used on TS in a wide variety of experiments, such as stabilization and control of the sawtooth period, perturbative transport studies by ECRH modulations, and ECRH-assisted plasma start-up.
