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Division Spotlight
Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
Meeting Spotlight
2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott Downtown
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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High-temperature plumbing and advanced reactors
The use of nuclear fission power and its role in impacting climate change is hotly debated. Fission advocates argue that short-term solutions would involve the rapid deployment of Gen III+ nuclear reactors, like Vogtle-3 and -4, while long-term climate change impact would rely on the creation and implementation of Gen IV reactors, “inherently safe” reactors that use passive laws of physics and chemistry rather than active controls such as valves and pumps to operate safely. While Gen IV reactors vary in many ways, one thing unites nearly all of them: the use of exotic, high-temperature coolants. These fluids, like molten salts and liquid metals, can enable reactor engineers to design much safer nuclear reactors—ultimately because the boiling point of each fluid is extremely high. Fluids that remain liquid over large temperature ranges can provide good heat transfer through many demanding conditions, all with minimal pressurization. Although the most apparent use for these fluids is advanced fission power, they have the potential to be applied to other power generation sources such as fusion, thermal storage, solar, or high-temperature process heat.1–3
David Grabaskas, Jason Andrus, Dennis Henneke, Jonathan Li, Matthew Bucknor, Matthew Warner
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 196 | Number 1 | October 2022 | Pages S278-S288
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2021.2014741
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Versatile Test Reactor (VTR) is a fast spectrum test reactor currently being developed in the United States under the direction of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Nuclear Energy (DOE-NE). The mission of the VTR is to enable accelerated testing of advanced reactor fuels and materials required for advanced reactor technologies. The conceptual design of the 300-MW(thermal), sodium-cooled, metallic-fueled, pool-type fast reactor has been led by U.S. national laboratories in collaboration with General Electric-Hitachi and Bechtel National Inc. To facilitate risk-informed design and authorization activities during the conceptual development phase, a conceptual design probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) was performed for the VTR. This paper provides an overview of the development of the VTR conceptual design PRA, including key DOE and industry standards and the PRA analysis approach and structure. In addition, the results of the VTR conceptual design PRA are provided, which include its use within authorization documentation and design decisions, along with important lessons learned during the process. The work reported in the paper is the result of studies supporting a VTR conceptual design, cost, and schedule estimate for DOE-NE to make a decision on procurement. As such, it is preliminary.