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
March 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
January 2026
Latest News
Fusion energy: Progress, partnerships, and the path to deployment
Over the past decade, fusion energy has moved decisively from scientific aspiration toward a credible pathway to a new energy technology. Thanks to long-term federal support, we have significantly advanced our fundamental understanding of plasma physics—the behavior of the superheated gases at the heart of fusion devices. This knowledge will enable the creation and control of fusion fuel under conditions required for future power plants. Our progress is exemplified by breakthroughs at the National Ignition Facility and the Joint European Torus.
Gary Taylor, Robert W. Harvey
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 55 | Number 1 | January 2009 | Pages 64-75
Technical Paper | Electron Cyclotron Emission and Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating | doi.org/10.13182/FST55-64
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A systematic disagreement between the electron temperature measured by electron cyclotron emission (ECE) (TECE) and laser Thomson scattering (TTS), which increases with TECE, is observed in JET and TFTR plasmas, such that TECE ~ 1.2 TTS when TECE ~ 10 keV. The disagreement is consistent with a non-Maxwellian distortion in the bulk electron momentum distribution. ITER is projected to operate with Te(0) ~ 20 to 40 keV so the disagreement between TECE and TTS could be >50%, with significant physics implications. The GENRAY ray-tracing code predicts that a two-view ECE system, with perpendicular and moderately oblique viewing antennas, would be sufficient to reconstruct a two-temperature bulk distribution. If the electron momentum distribution remains Maxwellian, the moderately oblique view could still be used to measure the electron temperature profile Te(R). A viewing dump will not be required for the oblique view, and plasma refraction will be minimal. The oblique view has a similar radial resolution to the perpendicular view, but with some reduction in radial coverage. Oblique viewing angles of up to 20 deg can be implemented without a major revision to the front end of the existing ITER ECE diagnostic design.
