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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.
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ANS Student Conference 2025
April 3–5, 2025
Albuquerque, NM|The University of New Mexico
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
Norway’s Halden reactor takes first step toward decommissioning
The government of Norway has granted the transfer of the Halden research reactor from the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) to the state agency Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND). The 25-MWt Halden boiling water reactor operated from 1958 to 2018 and was used in the research of nuclear fuel, reactor internals, plant procedures and monitoring, and human factors.
Andrei I. Shumeiko
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 80 | Number 7 | October 2024 | Pages 856-869
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2023.2227504
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The development of new space missions and the growing interest in space exploration have created an urgent need to develop high-thrust propulsion systems capable of propelling spacecraft far beyond the Earth and the solar system for long periods. Electric propulsion can potentially enable space missions to reach speeds thousands of times greater than conventional high-thrust chemical rockets. However, high speed comes at the cost of low power-to-thrust efficiency when considering propulsion systems as a whole, including the power generation system, transmission lines, and thrusters, which prevents high thrust from being achieved with any conceivable power system, resulting in long acceleration times. In addition, modern electric propulsion systems rely on external power sources that suffer significant power transfer losses at the high power levels required for high thrust levels. In addition, modern electric propulsion systems suffer from a number of critical physical and engineering problems that affect thrust levels and longevity. In addition, modern electric propulsion systems do not follow the principles of generation and acceleration of plasma flow that can be observed in space and potentially borrowed for artificial applications.
This paper discusses several promising electrodeless plasma thruster concepts for high-power, high-thrust electric propulsion systems based on a combined power source/power converter/thruster architecture. These concepts have the potential to overcome modern limitations of high-power electric propulsion systems and enable new outer space missions that would not be possible with conventional thrusters.