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Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Aug 2026
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2026
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Nuclear Science and Engineering
October 2026
Nuclear Technology
September 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
August 2026
Latest News
Copper melting behavior at extreme temperatures could inform fusion materials
Using SLAC’s electron camera, researchers recorded timestamps of solid copper atoms (orange) as they melted (yellow) after being blasted with laser heat. This graphic shows how copper atoms changed over a period of several femtoseconds (millionths of a billionth of a second), notated here as fractions of a picosecond. Instead of the predicted collapse, the researchers saw a gradual melting. (Image: Greg Stewart/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has announced researchers have conducted experiments testing how copper melts under extreme conditions, such as those it might be exposed to in a fusion machine. The results, published in Nature Communications, found that a copper thin film was more resilient to melting than models had predicted, uncovering molecular dynamics that had been missing from calculations.
“These results greatly improve the simulations we use to predict which materials have the best shot at surviving the extreme conditions of future fusion reaction chambers,” said Mianzhen Mo, the SLAC staff scientist who led the research.
ANS STEM Academy Educator Series
January 26, 2023|5:00–6:00PM (6:00–7:00PM EST)
Available to All Users
The American Nuclear Society STEM Academy presented this free webinar on the nuclear fuel cycle developed specifically for K-12 educators. Mary Lou Dunzik-Gougar, a professor at Idaho State University and former ANS president, explained the nuclear fuel cycle, current technologies for spent fuel handling, and emerging technologies that reimagine nuclear waste management.
About Mary Lou Dunzik-Gougar
Dunzik-Gougar is the associate dean of the Idaho State University (ISU) College of Science and Engineering, associate professor of nuclear engineering and a senior reactor operator at ISU’s Aerojet-General Nucleonics nuclear reactor, commonly known as the AGN-201. Presently, she coordinates the nuclear engineering curriculum at ISU and teaches core graduate and undergraduate courses. Dunzik-Gougar also performs nuclear materials research and is involved in regional and discipline accreditations, ISU’s international program development, and reactor administration.
Moderator
Eric Loewen, GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy
