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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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June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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Proving DRACO will deliver
The United States is now closer than it has been in over five decades to launching the first nuclear thermal rocket into space, thanks to DRACO—the Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Orbit.
Weston M. Stacey, Jr.
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 16 | Number 2 | September 1989 | Pages 268-275
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/FST89-A29161
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
It is conjectured that the number of fusion events catalyzed by a single muon is orders of magnitude greater for deuterium and tritium concentrated in a transition metal than in gaseous form and that the recent observation of 2.5-MeV neutrons from a D2O electrolytic cell with palladium and titanium cathodes can thereby be interpreted in terms of cosmic muon-catalyzed deuterium-deuterium fusion. This suggests a new fusion reactor concept consisting of deuterium and tritium concentrated in transition metal fuel elements in a fusion core that surrounds an accelerator-produced muon source. The feasibility of net energy production in such a reactor is established in terms of requirements on the number of fusion events catalyzed per muon. The technological implications for a power reactor based on this concept are examined. Finally, the potential of such a concept as a neutron source for materials testing and tritium and plutonium production is briefly discussed.