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
North American construction is back—smaller and faster—at OPG’s Darlington
“The nuclear renaissance is real here,” said Ontario Power Generation’s Subo Sinnathamby on May 8, one year to the day after OPG secured a final investment decision to build the first of four planned BWRX-300 reactors at its Darlington nuclear power plant, and shortly after the new reactor’s foundation was lifted into place. “We got our license to construct in April and our [final investment decision] in May, and we’ve been off to the races since.”
R. C. Kirkpatrick, I.R. Lindemuth
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 20 | Number 4 | December 1991 | Pages 834-837
Inertial Confinement Fusion | doi.org/10.13182/FST91-A11946945
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
At the third International Conference on Emerging Nuclear Energy Systems [1], we presented computational results which suggested that “breakeven” experiments in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) may be possible with existing driver technology [2]. We recently used the ICF simulation code LASNEX to calculate the performance of an idealized magnetized fuel target. The parameter space in which magnetized fuel operates is remote from that of both “conventional” ICF and magnetic confinement fusion devices. In particular, the plasma has a very high β and is wall confined, not magnetically confined. The role of the field is to reduce the electron thermal conductivity and to partially trap the DT alphas. The plasma is contained in a pusher which is imploded to compress and adiabatically heat the plasma from an initial condition of preheat and pre-magnetization to the conditions necessary for fusion ignition. The initial density must be quite low by ICF standards in order to insure that the electron thermal conductivity is suppressed and to minimize the generation of radiation from the plasma. Because the energy loss terms are effectively suppressed, the implosion may proceed at a relatively slow rate of about 1 to 3 cm/μs. Also, the need for low density fuel dictates a much larger target, so that magnetized fuel can use drivers with much lower power and power density. Therefore, magnetized fuel allows the use of efficient drivers that are not suitable for laser or particle beam fusion due to insufficient focus or too long pulse length. The ignition and burn of magnetized fuel involves very different dominant physical processes than does “conventional” ICF. The fusion time scale becomes comparable to the hydrodynamic time scale, but other processes that limit the burn in unmagnetized fuel are of no consequence. The idealized low gain magnetized fuel target presented here is large and requires a very low implosion velocity; use with an efficient driver should provide a viable nuclear energy system.