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2026 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 15–18, 2026
Phoenix, AZ|Arizona Grand Resort & Spa
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Fusion Science and Technology
August 2026
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Five companies, five bases: The Army’s Janus Program takes shape
Between the Nuclear Lifecycle Innovation Campuses and Nuclear Energy Launch Pad programs, August has already been a busy month for federal partnerships with the nuclear industry.
That trend continues: On Wednesday, the Department of the Army announced that it has selected five nuclear reactor developers—Antares Nuclear, BWXT Advanced Technologies, General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, Radiant Industries, and Westinghouse Government Services—each paired with a different military installation, for its Janus Program.
This week, the nuclear community descended on Dallas, Texas, for the second annual Nuclear Energy Conference and Expo, the premier industry-focused nuclear conference cohosted by the American Nuclear Society and the Nuclear Energy Institute. Among the plenary panelists was Jeff Waksman, principal deputy assistant secretary of the Army for installations, energy, and environment. Waksman has been closely involved in the development of the Janus Program, and the morning before the program’s new selections were unveiled, he provided insights on its ultimate goals at NECX 2026.
K. Vamsi Krishna, Sriharitha Rowthu, Vijay N. Nadakuduru, Ganesh Pilla, N. Kishore Babu
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 80 | Number 1 | January 2024 | Pages 68-81
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2023.2182119
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Titanium alloys are extensively used in aerospace applications due to their high strength-to-weight ratio, corrosion resistance, and outstanding mechanical performance. However, welding these alloys is difficult as they are highly reactive to environmental gases (O, N, and H) above 500°C. Aerospace structures require joints of high integrity to meet the design requirements. To this concern, gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) offers the potential to achieve welds of equal quality to electron beam welding or laser beam welding at much lower capital costs. The present study reports the influence of heat input on the evolution of microstructure and mechanical properties of Ti-15V-3Al-3Cr-3Sn (Ti-1533), a metastable beta titanium alloy welded by GTAW. The heat input can be controlled by different welding parameters like current, voltage, and welding speed. However, welding speed (15, 20, and 25 cm/min) is a crucial welding parameter that influences the cooling rate (product of thermal gradient and growth rate) and heat input. The microstructure of the fusion zone (FZ) consists of coarse columnar β grains, and coarse equiaxed β grains in the heat-affected zone, while the base metal comprises fine equiaxed β grains in all welding speeds. The average width of the FZ was found to decrease with an increase in welding speed due to lower heat input and higher cooling rate. The welds at 25 cm/min welding speed showed higher ultimate tensile strength (UTS) (654 ± 5 MPa) and hardness (240 HV) compared to 15 cm/min welding speed (UTS 593 ± 5 MPa; hardness 230 HV). The higher strength in the as-welded sample at 25 cm/min welding speed can be attributed to the lower columnar width of the β grains and the formation of equiaxed grains at the bottom portion of the weld zone. A similar trend was observed in samples subjected to the postweld heat treatment for all the weld speeds. Postweld aging of the welds prepared at 25 cm/min speed showed uniform α precipitates in the β matrix, as evidenced by transmission electron microscope results.