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Division Spotlight
Operations & Power
Members focus on the dissemination of knowledge and information in the area of power reactors with particular application to the production of electric power and process heat. The division sponsors meetings on the coverage of applied nuclear science and engineering as related to power plants, non-power reactors, and other nuclear facilities. It encourages and assists with the dissemination of knowledge pertinent to the safe and efficient operation of nuclear facilities through professional staff development, information exchange, and supporting the generation of viable solutions to current issues.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Commercial nuclear innovation "new space" age
In early 2006, a start-up company launched a small rocket from a tiny island in the Pacific. It exploded, showering the island with debris. A year later, a second launch attempt sent a rocket to space but failed to make orbit, burning up in the atmosphere. Another year brought a third attempt—and a third failure. The following month, in September 2008, the company used the last of its funds to launch a fourth rocket. It reached orbit, making history as the first privately funded liquid-fueled rocket to do so.
Roger A. Vesey, Robert B. Campbell, Stephen A. Slutz, David L. Hanson, Michael E. Cuneo, Thomas A. Mehlhorn, John L. Porter
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 49 | Number 3 | April 2006 | Pages 384-398
Technical Paper | Fast Ignition | doi.org/10.13182/FST06-A1157
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Fast ignition using pulsed-power drivers combines the efficient production of X-rays to drive fusion fuel assembly with precise ultraintense laser pulses for fuel ignition. Z-pinches convert electrical energy into thermal X-ray energy with high efficiency, which makes them attractive drivers for indirect-drive fuel assembly. Currently, experiments use the Z-pinch vacuum hohlraum, in which the Z-pinch heats a hohlraum that reemits thermal X-rays to drive the capsule. Surface-guided hemispherical capsule implosion experiments in Z-pinch vacuum hohlraums are in progress to study energetics, symmetry control, and pulse shaping. Simulations including radiation asymmetry and glide-plane physics have been performed to optimize the imploded fuel. Higher density capsule implosions at a given driver energy may be possible using the Z-pinch dynamic hohlraum, in which the Z-pinch plasma itself creates the hohlraum. Capsule and hohlraum designs for both vacuum and dynamic hohlraum sources are in progress, including liquid cryogenic fuel capsules. Analytic models for D-T fuel heating and burn have been developed for scoping purposes and breakeven scaling. Implicit particle-in-cell modeling of the interaction of laser-produced energetic particles with calculated fuel configurations demonstrates that details of the entire fuel/glide material density profile significantly affect the calculated energy deposition and thus the ignition requirements.