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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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Researchers use one-of-a-kind expertise and capabilities to test fuels of tomorrow
At the Idaho National Laboratory Hot Fuel Examination Facility, containment box operator Jake Maupin moves a manipulator arm into position around a pencil-thin nuclear fuel rod. He is preparing for a procedure that he and his colleagues have practiced repeatedly in anticipation of this moment in the hot cell.
Jack Hovingh
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 4 | Number 2 | September 1983 | Pages 973-978
Inertial Confinement Fusion | doi.org/10.13182/FST83-A22985
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This study parametrically examines the implications on inertial fusion reactor design of the use of direct drive pellets as an alternative to the radiation-driven targets. We have examined the impacts of direct illumination on mirror damage constraints, reactor neutronic performance, and system energetics and cost. The capital costs for low f/number, direct-illumination-driven inertial fusion power plants are required to be significantly less than those for the radiation-driven or high f/number direct illumination driven power plants to produce electricity at the same cost.