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
Fuel Cycle & Waste Management
Devoted to all aspects of the nuclear fuel cycle including waste management, worldwide. Division specific areas of interest and involvement include uranium conversion and enrichment; fuel fabrication, management (in-core and ex-core) and recycle; transportation; safeguards; high-level, low-level and mixed waste management and disposal; public policy and program management; decontamination and decommissioning environmental restoration; and excess weapons materials disposition.
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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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.
G. L. Kulcinski, R. R. Peterson, G. A. Moses, D. Bruggink, P. Cousseau, R. L. Engelstad, Y.-M. Lee, H. Y. Khater, E. G. Lovell, J. J. MacFarlane, E. A. Mogahed, S. Rutledge, M. E. Sawan, I. N. Sviatoslavsky, P. Wang, L. J. Wittenberg
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 26 | Number 3 | November 1994 | Pages 849-856
Inertial Confinement Fusion Reactor, Reactor Target, and Driver | Proceedings of the Eleventh Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy New Orleans, Louisiana June 19-23, 1994 | doi.org/10.13182/FST94-A40261
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The use of light ion or electron beams to compress matter to the densities required for fusion has been proposed for more than 20 years. In the past ten years, a series of light ion beam power plant conceptual designs have been published under the generic name LIBRA. Considerable advances in both physics and technology have allowed major improvements from the design performance of the earliest LIBRA 330 MWe power plant to the more recent 979 MWe LIBRA-LiTE, and the 1000 MWe LIBRA-SP reactors. The recent declassification of target designs allows more realistic target spectra, gains, and injection parameters to be analyzed. The pulsed power driver technology has matured to the point that Helia induction technology can be tested in the laboratory under single pulse conditions and confidently extrapolated to LIBRA repetition rates. New concepts for protecting the first structural wall of the reactor have been developed; the use of flexible INPORT (INhibited Flow in PORous Tube) and rigid PERIT (PErforated RIgid Tube) units allow the reflector and first wall to last the lifetime of the power plant. The use of PbLi eutectic alloy has greatly improved the safety features of these reactors and the economics of all three compare very favorably to the tokamak, laser, and heavy ion beam reactors.