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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.
Robert E. Miles
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 79 | Number 2 | October 1981 | Pages 239-245
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE81-A27414
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A new approach is presented for handling problems involving radioactive decay, buildup, and mass transfer. This method uses recursion relations for computing the exponential terms that makes the computation fast and efficient. The concepts of a path specific probability function and a cumulative transfer probability function are introduced and used in developing a general equation. This general equation permits branching from a parent to any daughter nuclide further down the decay chain and also mass transfer to other compartments linked by first-order transfer rate constants. Backward branching or feedback mechanisms, however, are not permitted. Treatment for problems involving singularities is also presented. The method has been found to be useful for many practical applications such as fission product buildup in nuclear reactor cores and releases from reactor plants.