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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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August 2025
Latest News
Startup looks to commercialize inertial fusion energy
Another startup hoping to capitalize on progress the Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has made in realizing inertial fusion energy has been launched. On August 27, San Francisco–based Inertia Enterprises, a private fusion power start-up, announced the formation of the company with the goal of commercializing fusion energy.
J. I. Katz
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 180 | Number 1 | May 2015 | Pages 117-122
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE14-81
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Deuterium-deuterium and deuterium-tritium reaction rates may be compared to determine plasma temperatures in the 10- to 200-eV range. Distinguishing neutrons from these two reactions is difficult when yields are low or unpredictable. Time-of-flight (TOF) methods fail if the source is extended in time. These neutrons may be distinguished because inelastic scattering of more energetic neutrons by carbon produces a 4.44-MeV gamma ray and because hydrogenous material preferentially attenuates lower-energy neutrons. We describe a detector system that can discriminate between lower- and higher-energy neutrons for fluences as low as O(102) neutrons per sterad even when TOF methods fail, define a figure of merit, and calculate its performance over a broad range of parameters.