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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Drones detect natural gamma radiation to measure agricultural soil health
The International Atomic Energy Agency has initiated a coordinated research project that will combine an “innovative, non-invasive, and scalable nuclear technique”—gamma-ray spectrometry (GRS)—with drones and satellite imagery to gather and analyze data that can reveal the quality of soil on agricultural lands around the world.
Soren Harrison et al.
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 64 | Number 2 | August 2013 | Pages 277-281
Divertor and High-Heat-Flux Components | Proceedings of the Twentieth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (TOFE-2012) (Part 1), Nashville, Tennessee, August 27-31, 2012 | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-A18089
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Operational requirements and research considerations make a high-temperature, toroidally continuous outer divertor an important upgrade to the Alcator C-Mod tokamak. Leading edge melting of tiles, non-uniform heat loads, large electromagnetic forces, and localized impurity sources limit the performance of bulk plasmas. These issues can be addressed by the installation of a well-aligned, toroidally continuous outer divertor. Additionally, future long pulse operation will cause the temperature of the outer divertor to reach bulk temperatures as high as 500 - 600 °C. This future operational requirement combined with the strong temperature dependence of plasma surface interactions (especially fuel retention), makes a controllable, high-temperature outer divertor desirable and necessary. The motivation, criteria, design, and R&D for the upgrade are discussed below.