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Fusion Science and Technology
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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.
Melvin Reier
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 43 | Number 3 | March 1971 | Pages 267-272
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE71-A19972
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A germanium crystal has been used to measure the absolute intensity of gamma rays from the decay of 238Pu, 212Pb, 212Bi, and 208Tl in a 1 ½-W SNAP-15A heat source. In practically all cases, agreement with other measurements is excellent. In addition, the amount of 236Pu impurity originally present in the sample can be measured with an accuracy of 4%. It is estimated that the 236Pu content in a fuel sample that is several months old can easily be measured with an accuracy of 10%.