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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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
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.
Luis Chacón, George H. Miley
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 33 | Number 2 | March 1998 | Pages 182-209
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST98-A28
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Fusion fuel of D-3He combines a high-energy yield per fusion reaction with a relatively high fusion cross section. Moreover, its nuclear reaction (D + 3He → p + , 18.3 MeV) minimizes neutrons and maximizes charged fusion products, enabling increased energy recovery efficiency by direct conversion. However, scarce 3He terrestrial resources have deterred research and development on this alternative. Production of 3He through inertial electrostatic confinement breeders, which supply 3He to field-reversed-configuration reactors (called satellites in reference to their dependence on the breeder) is explored. The breeder-satellite system is analyzed in terms of both energy balance and economics. The energy balance takes the net energy gain of the global system as the key parameter. The economic study determines the competitiveness of breeding with respect to 3He lunar mining, which was already shown to be an ultimately attractive route for commercial development.