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
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Jul 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
September 2026
Nuclear Technology
August 2026
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.
R. A. Stark, G. H. Miley
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 92 | Number 1 | January 1986 | Pages 92-97
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE86-A17869
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A one-dimensional radial hybrid code was written to study the start-up of the field-reversed mirror via neutral beam injection. This code, named FROST (Field-Reversed One-dimensional STart- up), models the plasma as azimuthally symmetric with no axial dependence. A multigroup method in energy and canonical angular momentum describes the large orbit ions from the beam. This method is designed to be more efficient than those employing particle tracking, since the characteristic time scale of the simulation is the ion slowing down time, rather than the much shorter cyclotron period. A time-differentiated Grad-Shafranov equation couples the ion current to massless fluid equations describing electrons and low-energy ions. Flux coordinates are used in this fluid model, in preference to a Eulerian framework, so that coupling of plasma at the two different radii of a closed flux surface can be treated with ease. Since a fluid treatment for electrons is invalid near afield null, a separate model for the electron current was included for this region, which is a unique feature. Results of simulation of injection into a 2XIIB-like plasma are discussed. Electron currents are found to retard, but not prevent, reversal of the magnetic field at the plasma center.