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Nuclear Criticality Safety
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2024 ANS Annual Conference
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Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
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Latest News
PPPL study points to better fusion plasma control
The combination of two previously known methods for managing plasma conditions can result in enhanced control of plasma in a fusion reactor, according to a simulation performed by researchers at the Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.
Fumihisa Nagase, Takashi Ohtomo, Hiroshi Uetsuka
Nuclear Technology | Volume 208 | Number 3 | March 2022 | Pages 484-493
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/00295450.2021.1905472
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A control rod alloy composed of silver (Ag), indium (In), and cadmium (Cd) was heated in argon or oxygen at 1073 to 1673 K for 60 to 3600 s. Then, the release behaviors of the elements were analyzed. The elemental release was quite limited below the liquefaction temperature. In argon, almost the entire Cd content was released within 3600 s at >1173 K and within 60 s at >1573 K while the released fractions of Ag and In were <3% and <8%, respectively. In oxygen, the release of Cd, which was quite small at temperatures lower than 1573 K, largely increased to ~30% to 50% at 1673 K for short periods. The releases of Ag and In were also small in oxygen under the analyzed conditions. The comparison with the experimental data suggests that conventional empirical release models may underestimate the Cd release at lower temperatures just after control rod failure in severe accidents.