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Conference Spotlight
2026 Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Latest News
Perpetual Atomics, QSA Global produce Am fuel for nuclear space power
U.K.-based Perpetual Atomics and U.S.-based QSA Global claim to have achieved a major step forward in processing americium dioxide to fuel radioisotope power systems used in space missions. Using an industrially scalable process, the companies said they have turned americium into stable, large-scale ceramic pellets that can be directly integrated into sealed sources for radioisotope power systems, including radioisotope heater units (RHUs) and radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs).
K. F. Schoepf, A. A. Harms
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 71 | Number 2 | August 1979 | Pages 170-181
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE79-A20408
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A nuclear energy concept based on the integrated operation of a beam-driven hybrid fusion reactor and a companion fission reactor is investigated. The fuel for the fusion component is taken to be only deuterium, while the fissile fuel consists of the plentiful fertile nuclei 232Th or 238U. The different system features associated with various deuterium cycles are examined, and parametric reactor physics constraint relationships are established. It is concluded that the synergetic fusion-fission energy system described here displays very favorable energetic characteristics and, in addition, possesses the feature of total self-sufficiency with respect to fissile fuel supply.
