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Fusion Energy Week begins today
Fusion is riding a surge of attention that began in December 2022 when researchers at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s National Ignition Facility achieved fusion ignition. The organizers of Fusion Energy Week—a group called the U.S. Fusion Outreach Team—on the other hand, trace fusion development back 100 years to the doctoral research of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, who discovered that stars, including our Sun, are mostly made of hydrogen and helium, which in turn led to the understanding that those elements are the “fuel” of potential fusion energy systems on Earth. In recognition of Payne-Gaposchkin’s birthday—May 10—the U.S. Fusion Outreach Team plans to hold a “grassroots celebration of fusion energy” May 6–10, 2024, and annually during the second week of May.
Vincenzo Nassisi
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 33 | Number 4 | July 1998 | Pages 468-475
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST98-A46
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Transmutation of elements in Pd hydrides with gas loading instead of liquid electrochemistry has been observed. The number of elements found increased for deuterated Pd samples processed with an XeCl excimer laser. The processing times were less than and more than 60 days, and some samples became incandescent when they were put into contact with air. The Pd-processed samples were analyzed with a scanning electron microscope and an electron probe microanalyzer; many pits on the surfaces of the samples were found along with the transmutation of many elements - Al, Au, C, Ca, Fe, Mg, Na, Nd, Ni, O, S, and Si - while the quartz windows, utilized to seal the cell, presented Al, C, Ca, Cl, K, Mg, Na, Ni, S, V, and Zn. Elements were also found, when the cross sections of the Pd samples were analyzed (particularly at a few micrometres from the external surface), that corresponded to the pits. Analysis of the samples that were processed less than 60 days showed that the highest X-ray peak was due to an Al-K emission line, and its intensity was 40% with respect to the Pd-L peak. In samples processed at 60 days, the Al concentration decreased while the Si-K, Fe-K, and O-K emission lines increased, resulting in the highest emission line, and their intensities were 50, 40, and 30%, respectively, with respect to the Pd-L peak.