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 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Aug 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
October 2026
Nuclear Technology
September 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2026
Latest News
Second round of Launch Pad selections includes eight newcomers
The National Reactor Innovation Center at Idaho National Laboratory has announced 13 project selections across 12 companies for the Nuclear Energy Launch Pad, a Department of Energy–led program that integrates reactor and fuel facility authorization, testing, and deployment support for private nuclear developers.
The Launch Pad emerged from the Reactor Pilot Program and Fuel Line Pilot Program.
According to INL, projects selected include reactor development and nuclear fuel cycle advancements, including fabrication, enrichment, and conversion technologies.
William L. Barr, Ralph W. Moir
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 3 | Number 1 | January 1983 | Pages 98-111
Technical Paper | Energy Storage, Switching, and Conversion | doi.org/10.13182/FST83-A20820
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The power carried out through the ends of a mirror fusion reactor by escaping plasma can be converted directly into electricity by a plasma direct converter. Test results from three plasma direct converters are described. The first two tests were performed with a steady-state power density up to 70 W/cm2 to simulate the predicted conditions on a reactor (∼100 W/cm2). A single-stage unit and a two-stage unit of the venetian-blind type were tested up to 100 kV and 6 kW for a total time of ∼80 h. In scaling up in energy from previous experiments, the new effects that became important were the ionization of background gas and the release of secondary electrons at surfaces. In the third test, a single-stage unit was mounted on the end wall of the Tandem Mirror Experiment (TMX) device where it intercepted some of the end-loss plasma. Of the 138 W incident on the direct converter, 79 W were recovered and 12 W were used to power the suppressor grid. The net efficiency was therefore 48%; this was in good agreement with predictions for a single-stage unit and the TMX plasma parameters. These test results lend confidence to our direct-converter designs for fusion reactors. The remaining area of concern includes the general problem imposed by high-voltage breakdown in a large direct converter with many joules of stored energy.