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.
Kameo Ishii, Tetsuya Goto, Yasuhiro Goi, Nagayoshi Kikuno, Yuzo Katsuki, Masao Nagasaki, Yoshihiro Ono, Nobutsugu Ishibashi, Motoo Nakamura, Isao Katanuma, Atsushi Mase, Makoto Ichimura, Akiyosi Itakura, Teruo Tamano, Kiyoshi Yatsu
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 35 | Number 1 | January 1999 | Pages 175-179
Oral Presentations | doi.org/10.13182/FST99-A11963846
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Gentle hump structure on energy spectra of end-loss ions was observed in the RF driven tandem mirror plasma by use of an end-loss energy component analyzer (ELECA), which has been developed in order to directly measure velocity distribution functions of the end-loss ions.1 Ions are heated anisotropically in the central cell of the tandem mirror by the ICRF wave injection, and Alfvén ion-cyclotron (AIC) fluctuations are excited due to the anisotropic ion temperature.2 The correlation between the hump structure and the excitation of the AIC fluctuations was observed experimentally. From the viewpoints of the heating characteristics and the resonance condition, the hump energy was estimated and successfully compared with the experimetal results. Influence of the ICRF waves on the hump structure was investigated using a bounce averaged Fokker Planck code.3 The AIC fluctuations enhance the end-loss ions scattered from the trapped region to the loss region, and have direct effects upon the ion confinement. The energy flux of the enhanced end-loss ions due to the AIC fluctuations was estimated and the enhancement factor was obtained. The strong anisotropic ion heating is dangerous for the ion confinement in the open systems which contain necessarily the loss regions.