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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.
D. B. MacMillan
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 39 | Number 3 | March 1970 | Pages 329-336
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE70-A19994
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A mathematical method is described for the computation of the probability distribution of neutron populations in a point reactor with a weak source. The author and his colleagues have previously described a method for doing such computations, and G. I. Bell has described a different method; the present paper uses ideas from both of these older methods plus new formulations for computing the probability distribution from values of the generating function, for evaluating the probability distribution of precursor decay rates instead of that of neutron populations, and for evaluating the effect of short neutron lifetime without using unnecessarily short time steps in numerical integration. As a result, the method presented here is more widely applicable and more accurate than the older methods. The reactor model used here permits taking account of six delayed-neutron precursor groups and of finite neutron lifetime.