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Aalo Atomics achieves criticality on July 4
Executive Order 14301 set an ambitious goal for at least three test reactors to achieve criticality by July 4. Two private companies participating in the Department of Energy’s Reactor Pilot Program—Antares and Valar Atomics—reached this stage earlier in June, and Deployable Energy—participating in the DOE's Nuclear Energy Launch Pad—became the third last week.
In the last few weeks, reports indicated that Aalo would be next, reaching criticality at Idaho National Laboratory with a low-enriched uranium–fueled, sodium-cooled reactor on or near the target date set forth by President Trump’s EO 14301. In the early hours of July 4, Aalo’s critical test reactor—a full-scale zero-power version of its planned 10-MWe Aalo-X—did just that, becoming the fourth DOE-authorized reactor to hit the milestone.
Yoshi Hirooka
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 52 | Number 4 | November 2007 | Pages 1040-1044
Technical Paper | Plasma Engineering and Diagnostics | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1632
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
For the successful steady state operation of deuterium-tritium (DT) fusion reactors, helium (He) ash needs to be removed continuously from the burning core, along with unburned hydrogenic fuel particles, to sustain the power generation. This will require enormous particle pumping capabilities despite the fact that helium is the most difficult gas to be pumped by means of cryogenic condensation. In the present work, zero-dimensional, four-reservoir (core-plasma, SOL-plasma, gas-phase, and wall material) global particle balance modeling has been conducted for both DT-fuel and He-ash particles. Modeling results indicate that, for the density control of He-ash particles in the burning core, passive wall pumping via codeposition with eroded plasma-facing materials would definitely be necessary to compensate for the lack of pumping speed provided by conventional vacuum equipment. Recent experimental data on helium codeposition with lithium have been used as input for modeling and results indicate that lithium-gettered moving-surface plasma-facing components can meet the He-ash pumping requirements.