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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2025
Latest News
U.S. nuclear fuel recycling takes two steps forward
Late last week saw two announcements from companies working to recycle used nuclear fuel on a commercial scale, providing welcome news to anyone hoping to see the United States move to unlock the hidden potential of the more than 94,000 metric tons of spent fuel stored at power plant sites around the country.
A. Reiman, S. Hirshman, S. Hudson, D. Monticello, P. Rutherford, A. Boozer, A. Brooks, R. Hatcher, L. Ku, E. A. Lazarus, H. Neilson, D. Strickler, R. White, M. Zarnstorff
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 51 | Number 2 | February 2007 | Pages 145-165
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1296
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Equilibrium issues encountered in the design of the National Compact Stellarator Experiment (NCSX) are discussed, focusing particularly on equilibrium magnetic islands. Significant improvements have been made to the VMEC equilibrium code to deal with numerical challenges at the low aspect ratios characterizing the NCSX design. Modifications to the PIES code have increased its speed, allowing routine evaluation of flux surfaces for candidate configurations. An optimizer has been built around the PIES code for healing magnetic islands, modifying the coil shapes to suppress resonant components of the magnetic field while preserving desired physics and engineering properties. The modified coils produce improved flux surface quality for a range of configurations. Neoclassical effects, which are not included in the PIES calculations, are estimated using a cylindrical model and are found to further reduce island widths significantly.