Section 2. Supporting research

Supporting research continued on a number of long-range programs. High-lights included the apparently successful use of the ''bronze'' method for producing multifilamentary Nb3Sn for high-field superconducing magnets; the experimental confirmation of a technique for high-efficiency direct energy conversion; and the completion of both detailed parametric studies and conceptual system designs of fusion-fission and pure-fusion reactors. Work continued on several aspects of neutral-beam technology, including the development (in collaboration with Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory) of a 50-A, 40-kV, pulsed neutral beam. Many of the experiments designed to study the damage induced in materials subjected to 14-MeV neutrons were performed in cooperation with other laboratories. In the tritium research program, work began in two areas: development of a method for extracting tritium from the atmosphere of a reactor enclosure, and improvement of tritide targets for the RTNS-II neutron source