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 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Feb 2026
Jul 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
February 2026
Nuclear Technology
January 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
DOE announces NEPA exclusion for advanced reactors
The Department of Energy has announced that it is establishing a categorical exclusion for the application of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) procedures to the authorization, siting, construction, operation, reauthorization, and decommissioning of advanced nuclear reactors.
According to the DOE, this significant change, which goes into effect today, “is based on the experience of DOE and other federal agencies, current technologies, regulatory requirements, and accepted industry practice.”
Haibo B. Chen, Brian Hilko, Jiong Chen, Emilio Panarella
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 27 | Number 3 | May 1995 | Pages 245-254
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST95-A30387
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The spherical pinch is an inertial confinement fusion (ICF) system modified by the inclusion of a preformed plasma in the center of a spherical vessel. The central plasma acts as a target for the imploding shock waves of the ICF. Upon compression by these shock waves, the central plasma attains temperatures higher and containment times longer than the ICF, thus facilitating the objective of fusion. The current study examined the spherical pinch as a source of useful radiation for applications that can go from testing mirrors for space exploration to the microscopy of biological specimens, paper radiography, and microlithography. This study was a continuation of previous work in which the radiation emission characteristics of the spherical pinch are theoretically studied. It included a detailed numerical simulation of the spherical pinch model as a radiation emitter in terms of density, pressure, temperature, and bremsstrahlung emission in the whole spectrum and in the soft X-ray region. A better understanding of the radiation production mechanism was thus gained from the current numerical study. Some indications on the usefulness of the concept for industrial applications are provided.