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Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
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Fusion Science and Technology
August 2026
Latest News
Copper melting behavior at extreme temperatures could inform fusion materials
Using SLAC’s electron camera, researchers recorded timestamps of solid copper atoms (orange) as they melted (yellow) after being blasted with laser heat. This graphic shows how copper atoms changed over a period of several femtoseconds (millionths of a billionth of a second), notated here as fractions of a picosecond. Instead of the predicted collapse, the researchers saw a gradual melting. (Image: Greg Stewart/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has announced researchers have conducted experiments testing how copper melts under extreme conditions, such as those it might be exposed to in a fusion machine. The results, published in Nature Communications, found that a copper thin film was more resilient to melting than models had predicted, uncovering molecular dynamics that had been missing from calculations.
“These results greatly improve the simulations we use to predict which materials have the best shot at surviving the extreme conditions of future fusion reaction chambers,” said Mianzhen Mo, the SLAC staff scientist who led the research.
VIEW RECIPIENTSSUBMIT NOMINATION
Nomination Deadline
August 1
Presented at the
Winter Conference
Monetary Award
$500
The Mark Mills Award is presented to the student author who submits the best original technical paper contributing to the advancement of science and engineering related to the atomic nucleus.
The award consists of an engraved plaque and a monetary award of $500. The award is presented at the ANS Winter Conference.
The award is for an original piece of work, which should be of publishable quality by a graduate student. The submission for the award should be a paper with an abstract in a form and of suitable length for publication in a reputable engineering or scientific journal. A paper, which has been published or submitted for publication, is eligible if nominated by the faculty advisor of the student with the appropriate forms and data. If the student and their advisor or others jointly author the paper, it may be eligible for the award if the student was primarily responsible for the original contribution and their advisor so certifies with the submission.
To be eligible for the award, the student must have been registered in a graduate degree program in a recognized institution of higher learning for one (1) year prior to the award, and their faculty advisor must make a certification of this fact on the nomination form. Thus, this competition is open to a graduate student completing the work on which their paper is based from a minimum of 4 months prior to the award to a maximum of 16 months prior to the award. A thesis is not acceptable. Multiple nominees by a nominator, nomination of past recipients of the award, and multiple-year nominations of the same paper are prohibited.
This award was established by the Society in 1958 as a memorial award to the late Mark Mills in recognition of his significant contributions to nuclear science and engineering.
The Honors and Awards Committee of the Education and Training and Workforce Development Division (ETWDD) administers this award. That committee establishes the detailed evaluation criteria, solicits the nominations, and determines the recipient. The national Honors and Awards Committee is available for consultation and review of criteria and procedures as appropriate.
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