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
February 2026
Nuclear Technology
January 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Playing the “bad guy” to enhance next-generation safety
Sometimes, cops and robbers is more than just a kid’s game. At the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, researchers are channeling their inner saboteurs to discover vulnerabilities in next-generation nuclear reactors, making sure that they’re as safe as possible before they’re even constructed.
Karl H. Spatschek
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 45 | Number 2 | March 2004 | Pages 135-150
Technical Paper | Plasma and Fusion Energy Physics - Kinetic Theory | doi.org/10.13182/FST04-A477
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The statistical description of a hot, magnetized, and classical plasma is reviewed. The latter represents the appropriate model for a fusion plasma in magnetic confinement. Various approaches for (reduced) kinetic descriptions are presented. We first discuss the problems related with reduction of information by investigating extremely simple mathematical models and reviewing standard projection techniques. The famous Boltzmann equation for dilute gases is then presented (without a systematic derivation), and the differences between the kinetic and the hydrodynamic regimes are worked out. In the main part, the consequences of long-range Coulomb interactions are demonstrated. Several plasma-kinetic equations, like for instance the Balescu-Lenard equation, are are systematically presented. Physical consequences from the linearization of the kinetic equations, e.g. collision frequencies and Landau damping, are elucidated. In the final part of the paper the specific re-formulations in magnetized plasmas are investigated. The drift-kinetic and the gyrokinetic approaches are presented. The paper is concluded by an outlook on often used truncations.