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Division Spotlight
Isotopes & Radiation
Members are devoted to applying nuclear science and engineering technologies involving isotopes, radiation applications, and associated equipment in scientific research, development, and industrial processes. Their interests lie primarily in education, industrial uses, biology, medicine, and health physics. Division committees include Analytical Applications of Isotopes and Radiation, Biology and Medicine, Radiation Applications, Radiation Sources and Detection, and Thermal Power Sources.
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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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.
Michael Tendler, Daniel Heifetz
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 11 | Number 2 | March 1987 | Pages 289-310
Overview | doi.org/10.13182/FST87-A25010
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The theory of neutral particle kinetics treats the transport of mass, momentum, and energy in a plasma due to neutral particles that themselves are unaffected by magnetic fields. This transport affects the global power and particle balances infusion devices, as well as profile control and plasma confinement quality, particle and energy fluxes onto device components, performance of pumping systems, and the design of diagnostics and the interpretation of their measurements. The development of analytic, numerical, and Monte Carlo methods of solving the time-independent Boltzmann equation describing neutral kinetics is reviewed. These models for neutral particle behavior typically use adaptations of techniques developed originally for computing neutron transport, due to the analogy between the two phenomena, where charge-exchange (CX) corresponds to scattering and ionization to absorption. There are, however, some important qualitative differences between the two fields. Progress in the simulation of neutral kinetics depends on developing multidimensional analytic methods and obtaining experimental data for the physical processes of wall reflection, the neutral/plasma interaction, and for processes in fusion devices that are directly related to neutral transport, such as Hα emission rates, plenum pressures, and CX emission spectra.