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Division Spotlight
Radiation Protection & Shielding
The Radiation Protection and Shielding Division is developing and promoting radiation protection and shielding aspects of nuclear science and technology — including interaction of nuclear radiation with materials and biological systems, instruments and techniques for the measurement of nuclear radiation fields, and radiation shield design and evaluation.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
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
NRC engineers share their expertise at the University of Puerto Rico
Robert Roche-Rivera and Marcos Rolón-Acevedo are licensed professional engineers who work at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. They are also alumni of the University of Puerto Rico–Mayagüez (UPRM) and have been sharing their knowledge and experience with students at their alma mater since last year, serving as adjunct professors in the university’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. During the 2023–2024 school year, they each taught two courses: Fundamentals of Nuclear Science and Engineering, and Nuclear Power Plant Engineering.
Leif Holmlid
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 74 | Number 3 | October 2018 | Pages 219-228
Technical Note | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2017.1421366
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A generator for ultradense hydrogen H(0) also generates kaons, pions, and muons both spontaneously and after laser-pulse induction. The negative muons formed can be used to generate the well-studied muon-catalyzed nuclear fusion D + D process in deuterium gas D2. Both laser-induced and spontaneous neutron emissions are now observed from the generator by commercial neutron detectors. Thermalization with polyethylene plastic blocks is used for the 6Li thermal neutron detectors (Kromek TN15 and Saint Gobain BC-702), which increases the signal rate; the background in the laboratory increases by a factor of 3. A laser-induced neutron signal is observed with D2 gas at pressure <1 bar. It is attributed to muon-catalyzed fusion by slow muons in the D2 gas at high D2 pressure. The size of the neutron signal is limited by the relatively inefficient moderation of the muons before their decay in the low D2 gas pressure used. With ordinary hydrogen H2 or p2 (protium), no fusion but only a low signal possibly from capture-generated neutrons is observed. This neutron signal in p2 gas is often temporarily depressed by the laser probably due to changes in the p(0) material. The spontaneous signal using p2 in the generator can be due to neutron-ejecting capture processes caused by muons formed spontaneously in the generator, while the spontaneous signal with D2 may be due to muon-catalyzed fusion as well as capture processes.