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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
Conference on Nuclear Training and Education: A Biennial International Forum (CONTE 2025)
February 3–6, 2025
Amelia Island, FL|Omni Amelia Island Resort
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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Latest News
A more open future for nuclear research
A growing number of institutional, national, and funder mandates are requiring researchers to make their published work immediately publicly accessible, through either open repositories or open access (OA) publications. In addition, both private and public funders are developing policies, such as those from the Office of Science and Technology Policy and the European Commission, that ask researchers to make publicly available at the time of publication as much of their underlying data and other materials as possible. These, combined with movement in the scientific community toward embracing open science principles (seen, for example, in the dramatic rise of preprint servers like arXiv), demonstrate a need for a different kind of publishing outlet.
David L. Hanson, Stephen A. Slutz, Roger A. Vesey, Michael E. Cuneo
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 49 | Number 3 | April 2006 | Pages 500-516
Technical Paper | Fast Ignition | doi.org/10.13182/FST06-A1163
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Fast ignition fusion targets require a uniform cryogenic D-T fuel layer for efficient fuel assembly. Uniform beta layering of solid D-T fuel within a fast ignition capsule will be complicated by the presence of a reentrant cone for short-pulse laser access. We discuss an alternative approach to cryogenic fast ignition targets currently being developed at Sandia National Laboratories in which a liquid cryogenic fuel layer is condensed from a low-pressure external gas supply and confined between concentric plastic shells. This concentric-shell cryogenic liquid fuel target concept is particularly well adapted to a hemispherical capsule configuration for single-sided X-ray drive. Liquid cryogenic D-T targets have a number of potential advantages, including greatly reduced system cost, temperature control, fill time, and cryogenic handling requirements, compared to beta-layered D-T targets. The shape and surface quality of the liquid fuel layer is determined entirely by the bounding shells, opening the possibility for simplified fast ignition fusion energy targets. Technology issues for target fabrication are discussed, and radiation-hydrodynamics simulations of liquid fuel capsule performance are presented.
