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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Shifting the paradigm of supply chain
Chad Wolf
When I began my nuclear career, I was coached up in the nuclear energy culture of the day to “run silent, run deep,” a mindset rooted in the U.S. Navy’s submarine philosophy. That was the norm—until Fukushima.
The nuclear renaissance that many had envisioned hit a wall. The focus shifted from expansion to survival. Many utility communications efforts pivoted from silence to broadcast, showcasing nuclear energy’s elegance and reliability. Nevertheless, despite being clean baseload 24/7 power that delivered a 90 percent capacity factor or higher, nuclear energy was painted as risky and expensive (alongside energy policies and incentives that favored renewables).
Economics became a driving force threatening to shutter nuclear power. The Delivering the Nuclear Promise initiative launched in 2015 challenged the industry to sustain high performance yet cut costs by up to 30 percent.
Sergei Yu. Medvedev, Sergei E. Sharapov
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 22 | Number 4 | December 1992 | Pages 470-473
Alpha-Particle Special | doi.org/10.13182/FST92-A30082
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The stabilizing compressibility effect of trapped alpha particles on low-frequency magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) ballooning modes (Re ω ≪ Im ω) in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) is investigated. It is found that this stabilization is the most effective one in the central region of the plasma column, where the unstable region of MHD ballooning modes is located for typical flat q(ψ) profiles in ITER. The alpha-particle distribution function is supposed to be isotropic and slowing down in energy. It has been found that the values of βα/βtotal ≅ 1.5 to 2.0% are sufficient to stabilize ballooning modes in the central low-shear region for the peaked pressure profiles [P(ψ) = P(0)(1 − ψ)γ] proposed for ITER. The value of βα/βtotal remains almost unchanged to suppress the instability for all γ = 1.0 to 2.0.
