ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Feb 2026
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
March 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
January 2026
Latest News
Fusion energy: Progress, partnerships, and the path to deployment
Over the past decade, fusion energy has moved decisively from scientific aspiration toward a credible pathway to a new energy technology. Thanks to long-term federal support, we have significantly advanced our fundamental understanding of plasma physics—the behavior of the superheated gases at the heart of fusion devices. This knowledge will enable the creation and control of fusion fuel under conditions required for future power plants. Our progress is exemplified by breakthroughs at the National Ignition Facility and the Joint European Torus.
M. Theobald, F. Baudin, J. Barnouin, E. Pêche, S. Bednarczyk, O. Legaie, P. Baclet
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 51 | Number 4 | May 2007 | Pages 586-592
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1449
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
For the CEA Laser "Mégajoule" (LMJ) facility, amorphous hydrogenated carbon (a-C:H or CHx), is the nominal ablator for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments. These capsules contain the fusible deuterium-tritium mixture in order to achieve ignition. Coatings are prepared by glow discharge polymerization (GDP) with trans-2-butene and hydrogen. They can be easily doped with germanium by adding tetramethylgermanium. The GDP technique is well known today and largely used in American and French laboratories. But the microshells for laser fusion targets have many stringent characteristics. Although the feasibility of the shells has been demonstrated, the goal is now to obtain graded germanium doped shells meeting all the specifications with a yield compatible with a production step.