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.”
J. M. Martínez-Val, M. Piera
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 29 | Number 1 | January 1996 | Pages 134-170
Technical Paper | ICF Target | doi.org/10.13182/FST96-A30663
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A totally new concept is proposed to reach fusion conditions by externally guided inertial confinement. The acceleration and compression of the fuel is guided by a cannon-like external duct with a conical section ending in a small-size cavity around the central point of the tube. The fuel pellets coming from each cannon mouth collide in the central cavity where the implosion and final compression of the fuel take place. Both the tube material density and its areal density must be much higher than the initial density and areal density of the fuel. The external tube will explode into pieces as a consequence of the inner pressures achieved after the fuel central collision. If this collision is suitably driven, a fusion burst can take place before the tube disassembly. Because of the features of the central collision needed to trigger ignition, this concept could be considered as tamped impact fusion. Both the fusion products and the debris from the guide tube are caught by a liquid-lithium curtain surrounding the target. Only two driving beams are necessary. The system can be applied to any type of driver and could use a solid pellet at room temperature as the initial target.