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This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
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Glass strategy: Hanford’s enhanced waste glass program
The mission of the Department of Energy’s Office of River Protection (ORP) is to complete the safe cleanup of waste resulting from decades of nuclear weapons development. One of the most technologically challenging responsibilities is the safe disposition of approximately 56 million gallons of radioactive waste historically stored in 177 tanks at the Hanford Site in Washington state.
ORP has a clear incentive to reduce the overall mission duration and cost. One pathway is to develop and deploy innovative technical solutions that can advance baseline flow sheets toward higher efficiency operations while reducing identified risks without compromising safety. Vitrification is the baseline process that will convert both high-level and low-level radioactive waste at Hanford into a stable glass waste form for long-term storage and disposal.
Although vitrification is a mature technology, there are key areas where technology can further reduce operational risks, advance baseline processes to maximize waste throughput, and provide the underpinning to enhance operational flexibility; all steps in reducing mission duration and cost.
J. J. Ferrada, W. T. Reiersen
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 60 | Number 1 | July 2011 | Pages 105-112
ITER Systems | Proceedings of the Nineteenth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (TOFE) (Part 1) | doi.org/10.13182/FST11-A12335
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
U.S. ITER is responsible for the design, engineering, and procurement of the Tokamak Cooling Water System (TCWS). TCWS is designed to provide cooling and baking for client systems that include the first wall/blanket, vacuum vessel, divertor, and neutral beam injector. Additional operations that support these primary functions include chemical control of water provided to client systems, draining and drying for maintenance, and leak detection/localization. TCWS interfaces with 27 systems including the secondary cooling system, which rejects this heat to the environment.TCWS is complex because it serves vital functions for four primary clients whose performance is critical to ITER's success, and it interfaces with more than 20 additional ITER systems. Conceptual design of this one-of-a-kind cooling system has been completed; however, several issues remain that must be resolved before moving to the next stage of the design process. The 2004 baseline design indicated cooling loops that have no fault tolerance for component failures. During plasma operation each cooling loop relies on a single pump, a single pressurizer, and one heat exchanger. Consequently, failure of any of these would render TCWS inoperable, resulting in plasma shutdown. The application of reliability, availability, maintainability, and inspectability (RAMI) tools during the different stages of TCWS design is crucial for optimization purposes and for maintaining compliance with project requirements.RAMI analysis indicates appropriate equipment redundancy that provides graceful degradation in the event of an equipment failure. Results from the study indicate that pump and heat exchanger reliability are key issues.The ITER International Organization (ITER IO) RAMI group has proposed standardization for the pumps and heat exchangers to reduce fabrication risks of one-of-akind components. An aggressive maintenance/repair program should be an integral part of ITER operations. Preventive maintenance should be part of the maintenance system.For equipment that is infrequently operated, it is suggested that the key components be tested on a regular basis. The analysis has indicated that the RAMI requirements have been exceeded at this point, allowing concentration on cost optimization.
