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Latest News
Kathryn Huff stepping down from DOE Nuclear Energy post
Huff
After serving two years as the Department of Energy’s assistant secretary for Nuclear Energy, Kathryn Huff will vacate that position on May 3 and return to teaching. Huff had started at the DOE in May 2021, serving for one year as the principal deputy assistant secretary for Nuclear Energy
“Serving in this capacity has been an unparalleled privilege, and I’m immensely grateful for the opportunity to have worked alongside you--the dedicated and talented public servants in Nuclear Energy, in DOE, and across the Biden-Harris Administration,” Huff wrote in an email announcement to colleagues last week. “I chose this timing to enable the smoothest transition back to my professorship at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where my beloved research, students, husband, and dog await.”
Yousry Gohar
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 39 | Number 2 | March 2001 | Pages 535-540
Nonelectric Applications | doi.org/10.13182/FST01-A11963291
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A Molten salt (Flibe) fusion blanket concept has been developed to solve the disposition problems of the spent nuclear fuel and the transuranic elements. This blanket concept can achieve the top rated solution, the complete elimination of the transuranic elements and the long-lived fission products. Small driven fusion devices with low neutron wall loading and low neutron fluence can perform this function. A 344-MW fusion power from D-T plasmas for thirty years with an availability factor of 0.75 can dispose of 70,000 tons of the US inventory of spent nuclear fuel generated up to the year 2015. In addition, the utilization of this blanket concept eliminates the need for a geological repository site for these materials, which is a major advantage. This application provides an excellent opportunity to develop and to enhance the public acceptance of the fusion energy for the future. The energy from the transmutation process is utilized to produce revenue. Flibe, lithium-lead eutectic, and liquid lead are possible candidates. The liquid blankets have several features, which are suited for this application. It can operate at constant thermal power without interruption for refueling by adjusting the concentration of the transuranic elements and lithium-6. These liquids operate at low-pressure, which reduces the primary stresses in the structure material. Development and fabrication costs of solid transuranic materials are eliminated. Bumup limit of the transuranic elements due to radiation effects is eliminated. Heat is generated within the liquid, which simplifies the heat removal process without producing thermal stresses. These blanket concepts have large negative temperature coefficient with respect to the blanket reactivity, which enhances the safety performance. These liquids are chemically and thermally stable under irradiation conditions, which minimize the radioactive waste volume. The operational record of the Molten Salt Breeder Reactor with Flibe was very successful, which established the technical bases for this application. This paper provides the technical analyses and the performance of the Flibe blanket concept as an example of this class of blankets.
