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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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2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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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
Commercial nuclear innovation "new space" age
In early 2006, a start-up company launched a small rocket from a tiny island in the Pacific. It exploded, showering the island with debris. A year later, a second launch attempt sent a rocket to space but failed to make orbit, burning up in the atmosphere. Another year brought a third attempt—and a third failure. The following month, in September 2008, the company used the last of its funds to launch a fourth rocket. It reached orbit, making history as the first privately funded liquid-fueled rocket to do so.
Y. Sentoku, W. Kruer, M. Matsuoka, A. Pukhov
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 49 | Number 3 | April 2006 | Pages 278-296
Technical Paper | Fast Ignition | doi.org/10.13182/FST06-A1149
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In the fast ignition scheme, the compressed core is surrounded by a 1-mm-scale coronal plasma. The critical density where the laser deposits energy is still more than 100 m away from the core. The distance is much longer than the laser focus radius or the core size. This situation raises an important question: How can we couple laser energy to the core from such a distance? One of the techniques that has been proposed to overcome this problem is hole boring by the ponderomotive pressure of the incident laser light. In this paper, the physics related to the laser hole boring, including the parametric instabilities, the channel formation, and the hot electron acceleration by ultraintense laser light, are discussed. The maximum density where the laser can propagate by hole boring is obtained as a function of the intensity. This agrees well with experimental observations, and it is confirmed by numerical simulations. The acceleration mechanism of hot electrons in the magnetic channel is also identified. The hot electrons are characterized by the numerical simulations. In summary, the critical issue of energy coupling in this scheme is raised and discussed.