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Conference Spotlight
2025 ANS Winter Conference & Expo
November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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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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Latest News
NRC nominee Nieh commits to independent safety mission
During a Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing today, Ho Nieh, President Donald Trump’s nominee to serve as a commissioner at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, was urged to maintain the agency’s independence regardless of political pressure from the Trump administration.
Kimberly A. DeFriend Obrey, Robert D. Day, Doug Hatch, Brent F. Espinoza, Shihai Feng, Brian M. Patterson
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 55 | Number 4 | May 2009 | Pages 490-498
Technical Paper | Eighteenth Target Fabrication Specialists' Meeting | doi.org/10.13182/FST55-4-490
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Aerogel is a material used in numerous components for inertial confinement fusion and high-energy density physics targets. In the past, these components were molded into the proper shapes. Artifacts left in the parts from the molding process, contour irregularities from shrinkage, and density gradients caused by the skin have caused Los Alamos National Laboratory to pursue machining as a way to make the components. The machining of aerogel is an involved process, and many manufacturing aspects need to be considered including holding the material for machining, achieving the desired surface roughness and the desired dimensional accuracy, conceivably producing a part with enhanced dimensional tolerance and minimal density variations. Therefore, an effort has been established to develop a method to more accurately determine density errors, perform machining experiments, acquire physical property data, and model the machining process.