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November 8–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Japan gets new U for enrichment as global power and fuel plans grow
President Trump is in Japan today, with a visit with new Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi on the agenda. Takaichi, who took office just last week as Japan’s first female prime minister, has already spoken in favor of nuclear energy and of accelerating the restart of Japan’s long-shuttered power reactors, as Reuters and others have reported. Much of the uranium to power those reactors will be enriched at Japan’s lone enrichment facility—part of Japan Nuclear Fuel Ltd.’s Rokkasho fuel complex—which accepted its first delivery of fresh uranium hexafluoride (UF₆) in 11 years earlier this month.
R. E. Olson
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 38 | Number 1 | July 2000 | Pages 6-10
Technical Paper | Thirteenth Target Fabrication Specialists’ Meeting | doi.org/10.13182/FST00-A36107
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A cryogenic, β-layered NIF ignition capsule with a beryllium ablator that employs a BeO dopant (2% O) for opacity control is described. The design has an optimized yield of 12 MJ and uses a “reduced drive” hohlraum temperature pulse shape that peaks at ∼250 eV. Shock timing sensitivity calculations have been performed for this capsule design. Individual uncertainties of: 1) ∼200 ps in the timing of the foot pulse; 2) ∼5% in the x-ray flux of the foot pulse and first step; 3) ∼10% in the ablator EOS; or 4) ∼ 5 μm in the DT ice layer thickness each have a significant impact on thermonuclear yield. Combined uncertainties have greater impact than isolated, individual issues. For example, a combination of uncertainties of: 200 ps in the foot, 2 eV in the foot, and 5 μm in the DT thickness results in a calculation that produces only ∼1% of the original design yield. A second, more speculative, capsule concept utilizing a liquid DT ablator is also discussed. This design produces a 2 MJ yield in a 250 eV peak drive calculation.