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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
August 2025
Latest News
DOE fast tracks test reactor projects: What to know
The Department of Energy today named 10 companies that want to get a test reactor critical within the next year using the DOE’s offer to authorize test reactors outside of national laboratories. As first outlined in one of the four executive orders on nuclear energy released by President Trump on May 23 and in the request for applications for the Reactor Pilot Program released June 18, the companies must use their own money and sites—and DOE authorization—to get reactors operating. What they won’t need is a Nuclear Regulatory Commission license.
A. Ando, A. Imasaki, H. Tobari, T. Yagai, K. Hattori, M. Inutake
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 43 | Number 1 | January 2003 | Pages 130-132
Propulsion | doi.org/10.13182/FST03-A11963579
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Macroscopic behavior of a high-beta and supersonic plasma flow produced by a magneto-plasma-dynamic arcjet (MPDA) was investigated in the HITOP device. A macroscopic instability was observed as a bulk rotation of the plasma plume eccentrically around the center axis of the vacuum vessel. We investigated whether it was caused by current-driven or pressure-driven instability. A plasma current circulating in the plasma plume was controlled by changing discharge current, magnetic field configuration and mass flow rate and by inserting a copper-mesh grid. It was found that the plasma plume was macroscopically stable when the current extending into the plasma plume was low and the safety factor was more than unity. This indicates that the observed macroscopic instability was mainly caused by a current-driven one.