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Going Nuclear: Notes from the officially unofficial book tour
I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.
J. S. Jaquez, A. Nikroo, N. A. Hein, W. Sweet
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 63 | Number 2 | March-April 2013 | Pages 226-231
Technical Paper | Selected papers from 20th Target Fabrication Meeting, May 20-24, 2012, Santa Fe, NM, Guest Editor: Robert C. Cook | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-A16342
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Simulations of ignition-scale hohlraums show that the addition to the hohlraum of a submicron-thick Au/B interior liner containing [approximately]20 to 40 at. % B likely reduces laser backscatter by reducing the stimulated Brillouin scattering. By reducing the backscatter, the amount of energy available to compress the inertial confinement fusion capsule is increased while the likelihood of laser damage at National Ignition Facility (NIF) is minimized. A specialized magnetron cosputtering process is used to fabricate Au/B liners between 0.6 and 1.2 m for use on hohlraums shot at NIF to the atomic concentrations of 20 to 40 at. % B. We will discuss recent process improvements, such as LabVIEW process automation, in situ rate and thickness measurements, and optimized coating setup, all of which have increased the hohlraum yield and hohlraum throughput as well as increased control and confidence in Au/B liner thickness and B concentration uniformity and reproducibility. We will also discuss effects of various leaching mechanisms affecting B concentration in the Au/B liner.