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 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Aug 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
October 2026
Nuclear Technology
September 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2026
Latest News
Second round of Launch Pad selections includes eight newcomers
The National Reactor Innovation Center at Idaho National Laboratory has announced 13 project selections across 12 companies for the Nuclear Energy Launch Pad, a Department of Energy–led program that integrates reactor and fuel facility authorization, testing, and deployment support for private nuclear developers.
The Launch Pad emerged from the Reactor Pilot Program and Fuel Line Pilot Program.
According to INL, projects selected include reactor development and nuclear fuel cycle advancements, including fabrication, enrichment, and conversion technologies.
S. A. Eddinger, H. Huang, M. E. Schoff
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 55 | Number 4 | May 2009 | Pages 411-416
Technical Paper | Eighteenth Target Fabrication Specialists' Meeting | doi.org/10.13182/FST55-411
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The inertial confinement fusion program requires the uniformity of multilayered samples to be measured to high accuracy. We currently use a reflection spectroscopy tool to measure optically transparent shells with no more than two layers. The method cannot measure opaque samples such as beryllium shells, low-reflection samples such as foam shells, or any shells with more than two layers such as National Ignition Facility specification Ge-CH shells. We also use a white-light interferometer to measure transparent samples with multiple layers, but only at the North/South Poles for a given orientation. To complement these existing tools, we developed an X-ray technique based on a commercial X-ray microscope (Xradia MicroXCT). MicroXCT is capable of providing high-contrast, high-resolution images and allows the samples to be precision aligned and angular indexed. Dimension accuracy is achieved through the calibration of the projection magnification and the lens distortion. From each X-ray image, a wall thickness trace along the great circle is obtained by converting Cartesian coordinates into cylindrical coordinates, and edge-finding algorithms are developed for a contact radiography project. Three-dimensional reconstruction and wall thickness display allow the visualization of the sample nonuniformity. The method has a 0.3 m measurement precision and, through phase contrast calibration, can achieve 0.3 m accuracy.