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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2025
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2025
Latest News
Nuclear Dirigo
On April 22, 1959, Rear Admiral George J. King, superintendent of the Maine Maritime Academy, announced that following the completion of the 1960 training cruise, cadets would begin the study of nuclear engineering. Courses at that time included radiation physics, reactor control and instrumentation, reactor theory and engineering, thermodynamics, shielding, core design, reactor maintenance, and nuclear aspects.
Stephen Allan Becker
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 80 | Number 1 | October 2024 | Pages S105-S109
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2023.2235494
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
On October 31, 1952, the United States successfully detonated the Los Alamos Mike thermonuclear device on the surface of Elugelab Island at Eniwetok Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. This test was the first demonstration of a high-yield thermonuclear explosion on Earth. The 10.4-Mt device yield obliterated Elugelab Island and left a 6240-ft-diameter underwater crater. Later, radiochemical analysis of the explosion debris produced the unanticipated discovery of 15 new heavy transuranic isotopes and two new elements, which were later named einsteinium and fermium. Initially, the discovery of these elements was classified, but in 1955, the results were declassified and announced to the world. The Mike results later led to the development of the Heavy Element and Isotope Effort under the U.S. Plowshare Peaceful Nuclear Explosions Program, under which additional new heavy transuranic isotopes were produced.