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Division Spotlight
Young Members Group
The Young Members Group works to encourage and enable all young professional members to be actively involved in the efforts and endeavors of the Society at all levels (Professional Divisions, ANS Governance, Local Sections, etc.) as they transition from the role of a student to the role of a professional. It sponsors non-technical workshops and meetings that provide professional development and networking opportunities for young professionals, collaborates with other Divisions and Groups in developing technical and non-technical content for topical and national meetings, encourages its members to participate in the activities of the Groups and Divisions that are closely related to their professional interests as well as in their local sections, introduces young members to the rules and governance structure of the Society, and nominates young professionals for awards and leadership opportunities available to members.
Meeting Spotlight
International Conference on Mathematics and Computational Methods Applied to Nuclear Science and Engineering (M&C 2025)
April 27–30, 2025
Denver, CO|The Westin Denver Downtown
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Fusion Science and Technology
May 2025
Latest News
Dragonfly, a Pu-fueled drone heading to Titan, gets key NASA approval
Curiosity landed on Mars sporting a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) in 2012, and a second NASA rover, Perseverance, landed in 2021. Both are still rolling across the red planet in the name of science. Another exploratory craft with a similar plutonium-238–fueled RTG but a very different mission—to fly between multiple test sites on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon—recently got one step closer to deployment.
On April 25, NASA and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) announced that the Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s icy moon passed its critical design review. “Passing this mission milestone means that Dragonfly’s mission design, fabrication, integration, and test plans are all approved, and the mission can now turn its attention to the construction of the spacecraft itself,” according to NASA.
Geoffrey W. Shuy, Ali E. Dabiri, Husam Gurol
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 9 | Number 3 | May 1986 | Pages 459-475
Technical Paper | Fusion Reactors | doi.org/10.13182/FST86-A24732
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A system of neutron-lean tandem mirror satellite reactors using the deuterium-3He (D-3He) fuel cycle has been assessed. The 3He fuel is produced via a breeder reactor, also based on the tandem mirror reactor (TMR) concept. The TMR concept was selected because, for the satellite reactors, the fusion energy is mostly in charged-particle form, so efficient, direct energy conversion can be used. For the breeder, the TMR gives a higher maximum achievable support ratio than other concepts give. The optimum satellite operating temperature was found to be ∼75 keV. The safety and cost of the satellite/breeder system were assessed. The D-3He fuel cycle becomes particularly attractive if the deuterium-deuterium (D-D) reaction can be suppressed by nuclear spin polarization. For perfect D-D reaction suppression, this would allow immediate hands-on maintainability of reactor components and allow for reduction in the magnet dimensions, since the shield would no longer be required. For no D-D reaction suppression, ∼3% of the fusion power will be in neutrons. This will then require the use of ∼40-cm shielding, along with activation concerns. Hands-on maintenance f or the satellite reactor is possible even without D-D reaction suppression, if low-activation materials are used. The radioactivity level of the 3He breeder is comparable to that of a deuterium-tritium reactor. The cost of electricity for the system, including the fuel costs, is estimated f or this system.