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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
Latest News
In transition: Commercializing fusion power
Commercial fusion power is closer than ever. There are now around 30 U.S. fusion companies, several of which claim to be on track to connect to the grid as early as the 2030s.
Tokamak and laser inertial confinement approaches benefit from decades of research at facilities such as the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and ITER, with alternative concepts including stellarator, magnetic mirror, and Z-pinch confinement also making notable progress as private and government funding for fusion increases.
Technical Session|Sponsored by ANSTD
Wednesday, November 18, 2020|4:50–6:30PM EST
Session Chair:
Jorge Navarro
Alternate Chair:
Paolo F. Venneri
Session Organizer:
Jeffrey C. King
Staff Producer:
Ashley Jiminian (American Nuclear Society)
To access the session recording, you must be logged in and registered for the meeting.
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To access paper attachments, you must be logged in and registered for the meeting.
Overview of High-Performance Centrifugal Nuclear Thermal Rocket Propulsion System
Jimmy Allen (Dynetics), John Foster (University of Michigan), Nicholas Smith (Idaho National Laboratory), Florent Heidet (Argonne National Laboratory), Michael G. Houts (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center), Mark Patterson (Southern Research), Michael Johns (Southern Research)
Paper
Preliminary Parametric Studies of a High Performance Centrifugal Nuclear Thermal Rocket System
C. M. McSwain (University of Tennessee), Darrin Leer (University of North Carolina at Charlotte), Ethan Fisher (Mississippi State University), Rittu S. Raju (University of Michigan), Michael G. Houts (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center), Michael G. Jarrett (Argonne National Laboratory), Florent Heidet (Argonne National Laboratory), Jonathan T. Gates (Texas A&M University)
Initial Neutronics Modeling of a Centrifugal Nuclear Thermal Rocket Engine using MCNP Code
C M. McSwain (University of Tennessee), Darrin Leer (University of North Carolina), Jonathan T. Gates (Texas A&M University), Ethan D. Fisher (Mississippi State University), Michael G. Houts (NASA MSFC), Rittu S. Raju (University of Michigan)
CNTR: Explanation of Propellant Flow and Description of Initial Experiments
Jonathan T. Gates (Argonne National Laboratory), Darrin Leer (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center), Rittu S. Raju (University of Michigan), Florent Heidet (Argonne National Laboratory), Michael G. Houts (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center), Thomas J. Godfroy (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center), C. M. McSwain (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center), Ethan D. Fisher (NASA)
