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Comments About Nuclear-Pumped Laser Research in the United States

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Lasers with Nuclear Pumping

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Abstract

This book primarily discusses NPL research in Russia. The Russian program has been larger and remains active whereas work in the United States and elsewhere has dwindled. Shortly after the end of the Cold War, two circumstances combined to cause stoppage of NPL work. While the military need ceased, public opposition to nuclear power mounted following the Three Mile Island Nuclear reactor accident in the United States. Such concerns clearly carried over to a reactor pumped laser, i.e. to NPLs. Here we briefly review earlier work is the United States, prior to a build-up of effort as part of the “Star Wars” program as cold war tension grew.

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Acknowledgments

As indicated by the references, many people have made significant contributions to NPL research in the United States. This chapter was largely adapted, with some additions (especially regarding theoretical advances) from a prior review in the Journal of Laser and Particle Beams [2], and a presentation at the ANS Conference on Fifty Years with Nuclear Fission authored by Miley, R. DeYoung, D. McArthur, and M. Prelas [1].

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  1. The Russian Federal Nuclear Center, Sarov, Russia

    S. P. Melnikov, A. N. Sizov & A. A. Sinyanskii

  2. University of Illinois, Urbana, USA

    George H. Miley

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Melnikov, S.P., Sizov, A.N., Sinyanskii, A.A., Miley, G.H. (2015). Comments About Nuclear-Pumped Laser Research in the United States. In: Lasers with Nuclear Pumping. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-08882-2_13

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