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Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
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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.
Workshop
Thursday, April 13, 2023|8:30–11:30AM EDT|Sequoyah 3
This event is sponsored by Paschal Solutions Inc.
This workshop will acquaint students with some of the vital safety functions in nonreactor nuclear facilities, including criticality safety and radiological safety. Attendees will be introduced to the use of standards and regulatory guidance as they pertain to both DOE and NRC-licensed facilities. Other topics include, but may not be limited to, normal and credible abnormal conditions, process hazard analysis, and development of safety basis.
A hypothetical nuclear material handling scenario will be provided to students, and the topics mentioned previously will be applied to that scenario. The workshop will use this exercise to demonstrate how different groups within the same organization apply their varying focuses to achieve a common goal of facility, operator, and environmental safety.
Location: Sequoyah 3
Cost: $0
Attendees: 40