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Division Spotlight
Robotics & Remote Systems
The Mission of the Robotics and Remote Systems Division is to promote the development and application of immersive simulation, robotics, and remote systems for hazardous environments for the purpose of reducing hazardous exposure to individuals, reducing environmental hazards and reducing the cost of performing work.
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 Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Zap Energy hits 37-million-degree electron temperatures in compact fusion device
Zap Energy announced April 23 that it has reached 1-3 keV plasma electron temperatures—roughly the equivalent of 11 to 37 million degrees Celsius—using its sheared-flow-stabilized Z-pinch approach to fusion. Reaching temperatures above that of the sun’s core (which is 10 million degrees Celsius temperature) is just one hurdle required before any fusion confinement concept can realistically pursue net gain and fusion energy.
B. Pollack, B. J. Lewis, D. Kelly
Nuclear Technology | Volume 182 | Number 1 | April 2013 | Pages 39-48
Technical Paper | Fission Reactors/Fuel Cycle and Management | doi.org/10.13182/NT13-A15824
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Current limitations of Canadian Deuterium Uranium (CANDU) reactors to reliably locate defective fuel bundles have created interest in new identification techniques. Noble gas tagging, which would involve the addition of specific combinations of Kr and Xe isotopes to the fuel-to-sheath gap during manufacturing, has the potential to offer a means of locating failed-fuel bundles on power, where the released tag could be measured in the primary heat transport system by mass spectrometry. Moreover, the technique could be of particular interest for demonstration irradiations with new fuel bundle designs. This work outlines preliminary considerations on the applicability of noble gas tagging for CANDU reactors. This assessment involved the determination of suitable tag isotopes, the simulation of the impact of the tag on the thermal performance of a fuel element, and the determination of the detection limit of a quadrupole inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometer instrument for krypton samples with typical aqueous concentrations in the range of 10-12 to 10-9 (molKr/molH2O).