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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Fusion Science and Technology
July 2025
Latest News
NRC approves V.C. Summer’s second license renewal
Dominion Energy’s V.C. Summer nuclear power plant, in Jenkinsville, S.C., has been authorized to operate for 80 years, until August 2062, following the renewal of its operating license by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a second time.
R. K. Annabattula, M. Kolb, Y. Gan, R. Rolli, M. Kamlah
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 66 | Number 1 | July-August 2014 | Pages 136-141
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-737
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The crushing strength of the breeder material [lithium orthosilicate (Li4SiO4 or OSi)] in the form of pebbles to be used for EU solid breeder concept is investigated. The pebbles are fabricated using a melt-spray method, and hence, a size variation in the pebbles produced is expected. Knowledge of the mechanical integrity (crush strength) of the pebbles is important for a successful design of a breeder blanket. In this paper, we present the experimental results of the crush (failure) loads for spherical OSi pebbles of different diameters ranging from 250um to 800um. The ultimate failure load for each size shows a Weibull distribution. Furthermore, the mean crush load increases with increase in pebble diameter. It is also observed that the level of opacity of the pebble influences the crush load significantly. The experimental data presented in this paper and the associated analysis could possibly help us to develop a framework for simulating a crushable polydisperse pebble assembly using discrete element method.
