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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
In transition: Commercializing fusion power
Commercial fusion power is closer than ever. There are now around 30 U.S. fusion companies, several of which claim to be on track to connect to the grid as early as the 2030s.
Tokamak and laser inertial confinement approaches benefit from decades of research at facilities such as the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and ITER, with alternative concepts including stellarator, magnetic mirror, and Z-pinch confinement also making notable progress as private and government funding for fusion increases.
M. T. Swinhoe
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 167 | Number 2 | February 2011 | Pages 171-175
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE09-97
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Neutron coincidence measurements of plutonium samples with uncertainties <0.5% could reduce the amount of costly destructive analysis required for nuclear material accountancy in plutonium handling plants. The ratio of (, n) emission to spontaneous fission neutron emission, , of plutonium samples is important to the interpretation of neutron coincidence measurements. When the “known alpha” analysis method is used, an error on the value propagates to approximately the same percentage error on the measured plutonium mass. Molality data of Charrin and the SOURCES code have been used to update the calculation of for both pure plutonium nitrate solutions and plutonium/uranyl nitrate solutions of different concentrations and acidity. This paper gives equations for the density of the solution as a function of heavy metal concentration and for the weight factors that can be used in the analysis of neutron coincidence measurements.