ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Mar 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Swiss nuclear power and the case for long-term operation
Designed for 40 years but built to last far longer, Switzerland’s nuclear power plants have all entered long-term operation. Yet age alone says little about safety or performance. Through continuous upgrades, strict regulatory oversight, and extensive aging management, the country’s reactors are being prepared for decades of continued operation, in line with international practice.
M. Wisse, L. Marot, R. Steiner, D. Mathys, A. Stumpp, M. Joanny, J. M. Travère, E. Meyer
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 66 | Number 2 | October 2014 | Pages 308-314
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-771
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In order to extend the investigation of laser-assisted cleaning of ITER-relevant first mirror materials to the picosecond regime, a commercial laser system delivering 10-ps pulses at 355 nm at a frequency of up to 1 MHz has been used to investigate the ablation of mixed aluminum (oxide)/tungsten (oxide) layers deposited on polycrystalline and nanocrystalline molybdenum as well as nanocrystalline rhodium mirrors. Characterization before and after cleaning using scanning electron microscopy and spectrophotometry shows heavy dust formation, resulting in a degradation of the reflectivity. Cleaning using 5-ns pulses at 350 and 532 nm, on the other hand, proved very promising. The structure of the film remnants suggests that in this case buckling was the underlying removal mechanism rather than ablation. Repeated coating and cleaning using nanosecond pulses is demonstrated.