Introduction to the Beryllium Technology Special Issue

This issue of Nuclear Technology contains selected papers presented at the 7th IEA International Workshop on Beryllium Technology, held November 30 to December 2, 2005, at the Fess Parker Doubletree Resort, Santa Barbara, California. This workshop series was initiated in 1988 and came under International Energy Agency (IEA) sponsorship in 1993.The objectives of meetings in this series include bringing together leading researchers in the field of Be technology and disseminating information on recent progress in this field, particularly related to nuclear research applications, through presentations on a variety of relevant topics. Beryllium gained early prominence as a neutron reflector in weapons and research reactors. It is being considered as a plasma-facing material for tokamak fusion reactors because of its low atomic number and oxygen affinity. While applications for metallic Be are becoming more specialized, for example in high precision mirrors, the market for alloys and ceramics of Be is strong an...