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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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August 2025
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Startup looks to commercialize inertial fusion energy
Another startup hoping to capitalize on progress the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has made in realizing inertial fusion energy has been launched. On August 27, San Francisco–based Inertia Enterprises, a private fusion power start-up, announced the formation of the company with the goal of commercializing fusion energy.
John D. Bess
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 171 | Number 1 | May 2012 | Pages 32-40
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE10-100
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A series of isothermal physics measurements was performed as part of an acceptance testing program for the Fast Flux Test Facility (FFTF). A HEX-Z partially homogenized benchmark model of the FFTF fully loaded core configuration was developed for evaluation of these measurements. Evaluated measurements include the critical eigenvalue of the fully loaded core, two neutron spectra, 32 reactivity effects measurements, an isothermal temperature coefficient, and low-energy gamma and electron spectra. Dominant uncertainties in the critical configuration include the placement of radial shielding around the core, reactor core assembly pitch, composition of the stainless steel components, plutonium content in the fuel pellets, and boron content in the absorber pellets. Calculations of criticality, reactivity effects measurements, and the isothermal temperature coefficient using Monte Carlo N-Particle version 5.1.40 (MCNP5) and ENDF/B-VII.0 cross sections with the benchmark model are in good agreement with the benchmark experiment measurements. There is little agreement between calculated and measured spectral measurements. This benchmark evaluation has been added to the International Handbook of Evaluated Reactor Physics Benchmark Experiments.