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 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
June 2026
Nuclear Technology
March 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2026
Latest News
DOE selects first companies for nuclear launch pad
The Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy and the National Reactor Innovation Center have announced their first selections for the Nuclear Energy Launch Pad: three companies developing microreactors and one developing fuel supply.
The four companies—Deployable Energy, General Matter, NuCube Energy, and Radiant Industries—were selected from the initial pool of Reactor Pilot Program and Fuel Line Pilot Program applicants, the two precursor programs to the launch pad.
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.