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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
Standards Program
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
New coolants, new fuels: A new generation of university reactors
Here’s an easy way to make aging U.S. power reactors look relatively youthful: Compare them (average age: 43) with the nation’s university research reactors. The 25 operating today have been licensed for an average of about 58 years.
F. Winterberg
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 56 | Number 1 | January 1975 | Pages 83-84
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE75-A26622
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The consequences of igniting a small fissionable pellet by laser-beam or relativistic electron-beam induced high density implosion-compression on future reactor technology are discussed. It is shown that with this method a highly efficient reactor system becomes possible by direct magnetohydrodynamic conversion of the expanding fireball into a magnetic cavity. The method not only will lead to an “absolutely” safe fast breeder reactor but by using hybrid pellets consisting of a combination of both fissionable and fusionable materials in addition will also lead to a combined fission-fusion energy producing system. In such a fission-fusion hybrid system, whereby the fission process produces a large amount of heat and the fusion process produces a large number of neutrons, the bootstrap coupling between the fission and fusion processes greatly increases the rate of the ensuing chain reaction and hence energy output enhancing substantially the energy yield of the micro-explosions.