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Going Nuclear: Notes from the officially unofficial book tour
I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.
Randall B. Randolph, John A. Oertel, Derek W. Schmidt, Matthew N. Lee, Brian M. Patterson, Kevin C. Henderson, Christopher E. Hamilton
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 70 | Number 2 | August-September 2016 | Pages 230-236
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST15-205
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Machined CH hemi-shell ablator capsules have been successfully produced by the MST-7 Target Fabrication Team at Los Alamos National Laboratory. Process development and micro-machining techniques have been developed to produce capsules for both the Omega and National Ignition Facility (NIF) campaigns. These capsules are gas filled up to 10 atm and consist of a machined plastic hemi-shell outer layer that accommodates various specially engineered low-density polystyrene foam cores. Machining and assembly of the two-part, step-jointed plastic hemi-shell outer layer required development of new techniques, processes, and tooling while still meeting very aggressive shot schedules for both campaigns. Problems encountered and process improvements will be discussed that describe this very unique, complex capsule design approach through the first Omega proof-of-concept version to the larger NIF version.