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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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August 2025
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Industry Update—August 2025
Here is a recap of industry happenings from the recent past:
SMR service center targeted for Ontario
GE Vernova Hitachi Nuclear Energy has announced plans to invest as much as $50 million to establish a Canadian BWRX-300 Engineering and Service Center near Ontario Power Generation’s Darlington New Nuclear Project site. The Ontario government had previously approved the construction of the first of four BWRX-300 small modular reactors at the site. The center will provide engineering and technical services for the long-term operation and maintenance of the future fleet of SMRs in Ontario. It will also serve as a hub for innovation and training, knowledge sharing, supply chain engagement, and workforce development.
G. Legay, M. Theobald, J. Barnouin, E. P[^]eche, S. Bednarczyk, C. Hermerel, O. Legaie
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 55 | Number 4 | May 2009 | Pages 438-445
Technical Paper | Eighteenth Target Fabrication Specialists' Meeting | doi.org/10.13182/FST09-A7423
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In the Commissariat à l'Energie Atomique Laser Megajoule (LMJ) facility, amorphous hydrogenated carbon (a-C:H or CHX) is the nominal ablator used to achieve inertial confinement fusion experiments. These targets are filled with a fusible mixture of deuterium-tritium in order to perform ignition. The a-C:H shell is deposited on a polyalphamethylstyrene (PAMS) mandrel by glow discharge polymerization with trans-2-butene, hydrogen, and helium. Graded germanium doped CHX microshells are supposed to be more stable regarding hydrodynamic instabilities. The shells are composed of four layers, for a total thickness of 180 m. The germanium gradient is obtained by doping the different a-C:H layers with the addition of tetramethylgermanium in the gas mixture.As the achievement of ignition greatly depends on the physical properties of the shell, the thicknesses, doping concentration, and roughness must be precisely controlled.Quartz microbalances were used to perform an in situ and real-time measurement of the thickness in order to reduce the variations - and so our fabrication tolerances - on each layer thickness. Ex situ control of the thickness of each layer was carried out, with both optical coherent tomography and interferometry (wallmapper).High-quality PAMS and a rolling system have been used to lower the low-mode roughness [root-mean-square (rms) (mode 2) < 70 nm]. High modes were clearly reduced by coating the pan containing the shells with polyvinyl alcohol + CHX instead of polystyrene + CHX resulting in an rms (>mode 10) < 20 nm, which can be <15 nm for the best microshells.The germanium concentration (0.4 and 0.75 at.%) in the a-CH layer is obtained by regulating the tetramethylgermanium flow. Low range mass flow controllers have been used to improve the doping accuracy.