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 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Jun 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
July 2026
Nuclear Technology
June 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2026
Latest News
Antares achieves zero-power criticality at INL
Leveraging more than $140 million in private capital fundraising, over 322,000 square feet of operational manufacturing space, and multifaceted partnerships with the Departments of Energy and Defense, reactor start-up Antares has become the first company involved in the Reactor Pilot Program to achieve zero-power fueled criticality—a full month ahead of the July 4 deadline set by President Trump’s Executive Order 14301.
This milestone, announced yesterday, was achieved with the company’s Mark-0: a sodium heat-pipe-cooled, TRISO-fueled microreactor. The Mark-0 is a forerunner to the company’s flagship design, which it calls the R1. For Antares, this development represents a key validation of its reactor physics, control systems, and supply chain.
Lei Ren, Jianqiang Zhu
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 71 | Number 2 | February 2017 | Pages 137-143
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST16-101
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The target area of a 288-beam inertial confinement fusion laser driver was designed to allow lasers for direct-drive illumination, spherical hohlraum with six laser entrance holes (6LEHs), and baseline cylindrical hohlraums. The suggested radius of a target chamber was 6.0 m based on the ratio of the total port area to chamber area. Beam port distribution on the chamber was calculated if the direct propagation of laser beams into opposing beam ports was avoided, and this distribution was compatible with spherical hohlraums with 6LEHs without additional ports opened. According to the symmetry of the beam port distribution, an X-shaped beam-guiding system (BGS) in the switchyard was proposed and arranged within a baseline algorithm. The switch between direct- and indirect-drive modes was easy to operate using this BGS concept.