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
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!
Latest Magazine Issues
Jul 2025
Jan 2025
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2025
Nuclear Technology
August 2025
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Deep Space: The new frontier of radiation controls
In commercial nuclear power, there has always been a deliberate tension between the regulator and the utility owner. The regulator fundamentally exists to protect the worker, and the utility, to make a profit. It is a win-win balance.
From the U.S. nuclear industry has emerged a brilliantly successful occupational nuclear safety record—largely the result of an ALARA (as low as reasonably achievable) process that has driven exposure rates down to what only a decade ago would have been considered unthinkable. In the U.S. nuclear industry, the system has accomplished an excellent, nearly seamless process that succeeds to the benefit of both employee and utility owner.
John Caird et al.
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 56 | Number 2 | August 2009 | Pages 607-617
Laser Fusion-Fission Hybrid | Eighteenth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Part 2) | doi.org/10.13182/FST18-P8031
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
We have developed preliminary conceptual laser system designs for the Laser ICF (Inertial Confinement Fusion) Fission Energy (LIFE) application. Our approach leverages experience in high-energy Nd: glass laser technology developed for the National Ignition Facility (NIF), along with high-energy-class diode-pumped solid-state laser (HEC-DPSSL) technology system.We present laser system designs suitable for both indirect-drive, hot spot ignition and indirect-drive, fast ignition targets. Main amplifiers for both systems use laser-diode-angle, as in NIF, but the slabs are much thinner to allow for cooling by high-velocity helium gas as in the Mercury laser system. We also describe a plan to mass-produce pump-diode lasers to bring diode costs down to the order of $0.01 per Watt of peak output power, as needed to make the LIFE application economically attractive.
