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.
Division Spotlight
Education, Training & Workforce Development
The Education, Training & Workforce Development Division provides communication among the academic, industrial, and governmental communities through the exchange of views and information on matters related to education, training and workforce development in nuclear and radiological science, engineering, and technology. Industry leaders, education and training professionals, and interested students work together through Society-sponsored meetings and publications, to enrich their professional development, to educate the general public, and to advance nuclear and radiological science and engineering.
Meeting Spotlight
2025 ANS Annual Conference
June 15–18, 2025
Chicago, IL|Chicago Marriott Downtown
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
Latest Magazine Issues
Jun 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
July 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Smarter waste strategies: Helping deliver on the promise of advanced nuclear
At COP28, held in Dubai in 2023, a clear consensus emerged: Nuclear energy must be a cornerstone of the global clean energy transition. With electricity demand projected to soar as we decarbonize not just power but also industry, transport, and heat, the case for new nuclear is compelling. More than 20 countries committed to tripling global nuclear capacity by 2050. In the United States alone, the Department of Energy forecasts that the country’s current nuclear capacity could more than triple, adding 200 GW of new nuclear to the existing 95 GW by mid-century.
G.J. Laughon, K.R. Schultz
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 30 | Number 3 | December 1996 | Pages 471-474
National Ignition Facility | doi.org/10.13182/FST96-A11962985
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The National Ignition Facility (NIF), proposed by the Office of Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF), will be used to demonstrate fusion ignition in a laboratory environment (1). The primary mission of NIF will be to support U.S. DOE Defense Programs. The facilities' secondary mission will be to support development of inertial fusion as a potential fusion energy source for civilian use (2). Target insertion is one of the technical issues which will need to be addressed before inertial fusion can become a practical energy source, and is one of the issues that can be investigated by experiments on the NIF.
Target insertion systems currently utilized at existing ICF facilities consist of mechanisms inside the target chamber to insert, position, and hold the target at the chamber center. These are not suitable for multiple shots in quick succession, as needed for energy applications. A study was performed to investigate various new techniques for target insertion in NIF.
Insertion concepts involving free-falling and artificially accelerated targets were developed and evaluated against a set of predetermined guidelines. Fixed structure holding systems were not considered due to the destructive environment at the chamber center. Conclusions drawn by the author suggest a system involving a fast retraction positioner would be suitable. A target would be positioned in a holder attached to a moveable arm. The holder is moved to a position slightly above the chamber center. The target is dropped and the holder/arm assembly is quickly retracted to avoid ablation effects. To improve target accuracy, a release system imparting near-zero torque and augmenting the target with additional mass to reduce drag effects would be employed. A plan illustrating a reasonable continuation of the project, leading ultimately to tests in NIF, is also presented.
