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2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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Darleane C. Hoffman, transuranium element pioneer, dies at age 98
Hoffman
Nuclear chemist Darleane D. Hoffman, who was renowned for her research on transuranium elements that advanced the understanding of nuclear fission, died on September 4 at her home in Menlo Park, Calif. She was 98.
Iowa origins: Hoffman was born on November 8, 1926, in Terril, Ia. She attended Iowa State University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in chemistry in 1948 and a doctorate in physical (or nuclear) chemistry in 1951. She then began working as a chemist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Los Alamos research: In 1953, Hoffman began a research position at Los Alamos National Laboratory, where she conducted pioneering work on spontaneous fission. She served as the lab’s first female division leader in charge of the Chemistry and Nuclear Chemistry Division.
Alexander A. Skovoroda
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 39 | Number 1 | January 2001 | Pages 41-48
Invited Review Lectures | doi.org/10.13182/FST01-A11963413
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The conceptual project APEX (Adapted Plasma Experiment) is discussed. The APEX objective is the development of a physical foundations for the CW fusion reactor, created on a base of an alternative type of magnetic trap, which could provide a “tokamak scale” confinement time at much higher β. Linked mirrors are the prototypes of this heading. The main idea of DRACON trap – the short circuit secondary plasma currents inside the curve elements (CE) – is kept. The new principle of poloidal pseudosymmetry and the non-traditional scheme of MHD plasma stabilization by “magnetic hump” give a possibility of a new approach to reduce plasma losses.
The APEX concept provides for the Experimental Pseudo SYmmetric Linked trap (EPSYLON) design. The whole installation will be have two axisymmetric mirror parts (OME) closed with two CEs. Each OME contains the diverter. CE should have a strongly rippled magnetic field. As far as each OME and each CE is a trap with mirror confinement it is possible to start an investigation of the system from separate experiments with different parts of the whole system. The EPSYLON construction will be adapted to the experimental results. The experiment with OME is chosen now as the first step of the program. The main objective of this first experiment is the investigation of the “magnetic hump” MHD stabilization produced by divertor. EPSILON-OME installation is discussed. The closed system calculations are going in parallel.