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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Fusion Science and Technology
August 2025
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The newest era of workforce development at ANS
As most attendees of this year’s ANS Annual Conference left breakfast in the Grand Ballroom of the Chicago Downtown Marriott to sit in on presentations covering everything from career pathways in fusion to recently digitized archival nuclear films, 40 of them made their way to the hotel’s fifth floor to take part in the second offering of Nuclear 101, a newly designed certification course that seeks to give professionals who are in or adjacent to the industry an in-depth understanding of the essentials of nuclear energy and engineering from some of the field’s leading experts.
R. F. Bourque
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 15 | Number 2 | March 1989 | Pages 1270-1274
Commercial Reactors, Economics and Power Conversion | doi.org/10.13182/FST89-A39864
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Cascade is an ICF reactor concept with a flowing ceramic granule blanket operating at high temperatures (≤ 1600K). For electical power conversion, we examined three options: (1) conventional Rankine cycle using steam, (2) closed cycle Brayton helium gas turbine, and (3) the Field cycle, which is a hybrid Brayton/Rankine cycle using steam. We found the Brayton cycle to be the most suitable choice. The reference cycle chosen has a peak turbine nozzle inlet temperature of 1300K and a net efficiency of 54.8%. Reheats are an unnecessary complication which, in this case, do not increase efficiency. On the other hand, intercoolers between compressor stages are beneficial. Most of the components can be heat-resisting metal alloy, with ceramics needed only in a limited number of high temperature components. The Field cycle has both elements of the Rankine and Brayton, performance is somewhere in between, and steam pressures are lower than Rankine. Temperatures are high, but low enough to use heat resisting alloys everywhere. It is discussed here because it may be of value in reactors with gas-cooled blankets.