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Division Spotlight
Materials Science & Technology
The objectives of MSTD are: promote the advancement of materials science in Nuclear Science Technology; support the multidisciplines which constitute it; encourage research by providing a forum for the presentation, exchange, and documentation of relevant information; promote the interaction and communication among its members; and recognize and reward its members for significant contributions to the field of materials science in nuclear technology.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
DIII-D upgrades to shape the future of magnetic fusion energy research
The DIII-D National Fusion Facility is starting up after an eight-month experimental hiatus, equipped with new and improved plasma control and diagnostic systems. The upgrades will help researchers from around the nation and the world resolve key physics questions to bridge the gap between current magnetic confinement fusion research and the first fusion power pilot plants. General Atomics, which operates DIII-D for the Department of Energy, announced the completion of upgrades on May 8.
Zhihan Hu, Lin Shao
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 198 | Number 1 | January 2024 | Pages 145-157
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2023.2224468
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Impurities such as carbon atoms play a significant role in the void swelling of irradiated metals. The phenomenon is important to both materials designs in which impurities are intentionally introduced and accelerator-based ion irradiation testing in which impurities are introduced unintentionally as contaminants. Here, we report rate theory simulations of void nucleation in pure Fe, which are irradiated by 5-MeV Fe ions, as one typical irradiation condition used in nuclear material testing. Based on kinetics obtained previously from ab initio calculations, Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE)–based numerical solvers were used to simulate defect distributions and void nucleation. Vacancy-carbon interactions increase the effective migration energies of carbon and decrease the diffusivity prefactors. The vacancy mobility reduction decreases both interstitial flux and vacancy flux. However, the vacancy flux reduction is more significant than that of interstitials, leading to reduced void nucleation in bulk. On the other hand, reduced vacancy flux toward the surface leads to local vacancy pileups, leading to locally enhanced void nucleation. These two combined effects make the void nucleation profile deviate from the displacements per atom (dpa) peak, and void swelling peaks shift to the near-surface region. The transition from deep swelling to near-surface swelling is plotted as a function of dpa rate, carbon concentration, and temperature. The study shows that the swelling peak shifting caused by the carbon effect can be avoided by either reducing dpa rates or increasing irradiation temperatures. The study is important to understand swelling behaviors and to optimize irradiation parameters for accelerator-based swelling testing.