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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Fusion Science and Technology
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Deep Fission raises $30M in financing
Since the Department of Energy kicked off a 10-company race with its Nuclear Reactor Pilot Program to bring test reactors on line by July 4, 2026, the industry has been waiting for new headlines proclaiming progress. Aalo Atomics broke ahead of the pack first by announcing last week that it had broken ground on its 50-MWe Aalo-X at Idaho National Laboratory.
C. Chad Roberts, Stephan A. Letts, Michael D. Saculla, Edmund J. Hsieh, Robert C. Cook
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 35 | Number 2 | March 1999 | Pages 138-146
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST99-A11963917
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The focus of recent efforts at LLNL has been to demonstrate that vapor deposition processing is a suitable technique to form polyimide films with sufficient strength for current National Ignition Facility target specifications. Production of polyimide films with controlled stoichiometry was accomplished by: 1) depositing a novel co-functional monomer and 2) matching the vapor pressure of each monomer in PMDA/ODA co-depositions. The sublimation and deposition rate for the monomers was determined over a range of temperatures. Polyimide films with thicknesses up to 30 μm were fabricated. Composition, structure and strength were assessed using FTIR, SEM and biaxial burst testing. The best films had a tensile strength of approximately 100 MPa. A qualitative relationship between the stoichiometry and tensile strength of the film was demonstrated. Thin films (∼3.5 μm) were typically smooth with an rms of 1.5 nm.