ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
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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Nuclear Science and Engineering
January 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Christmas Night
Twas the night before Christmas when all through the houseNo electrons were flowing through even my mouse.
All devices were plugged in by the chimney with careWith the hope that St. Nikola Tesla would share.
J. F. Hund, J. W. Crippen, K. Clark, N. Martinez, D. J. Jasion, M. P. Farrell, D. T. Frey
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 63 | Number 2 | March-April 2013 | Pages 252-256
Technical Paper | Selected papers from 20th Target Fabrication Meeting, May 20-24, 2012, Santa Fe, NM, Guest Editor: Robert C. Cook | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-A16346
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The National Ignition Campaign (NIC) target consists of precisely machined and assembled components. A subset of the components of this target is the aluminum shielding around the silicon support and cooling arms, which is designed to alleviate harmful unconverted light reflecting from the arms into the laser optics. This NIC target shielding consists of two external shields and four inner shields located between the arms. Recently, we have developed a process to add a plastic coating to the shields with precisely defined edges that can survive pressing the part into a three-dimensional shape. After this process was demonstrated on prototypes, it was further refined to improve yield and is currently being used to fabricate and deliver parts for NIC experiments on a regular basis. The final process that we developed consists of seven steps to fabricate these shields: (1) applying a photolithographed plastic layer to electrically isolate the shields from the electrical traces on the cooling arms, (2) plasma etching to improve adhesion during the subsequent aluminum coating, (3) large-batch electron-beam aluminum coating, (4) laser cutting and custom die cutting to various shapes and specified patterns, (5) utilizing heat pressing techniques that soften the plastic coating enough to be coined into a three-dimensional shape, (6) accurate positioning and bonding of Mylar liners under the tops of the shields, and (7) final characterization. Through these process steps high process yields were achieved against the rigorous NIC requirements.