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High-temperature plumbing and advanced reactors
The use of nuclear fission power and its role in impacting climate change is hotly debated. Fission advocates argue that short-term solutions would involve the rapid deployment of Gen III+ nuclear reactors, like Vogtle-3 and -4, while long-term climate change impact would rely on the creation and implementation of Gen IV reactors, “inherently safe” reactors that use passive laws of physics and chemistry rather than active controls such as valves and pumps to operate safely. While Gen IV reactors vary in many ways, one thing unites nearly all of them: the use of exotic, high-temperature coolants. These fluids, like molten salts and liquid metals, can enable reactor engineers to design much safer nuclear reactors—ultimately because the boiling point of each fluid is extremely high. Fluids that remain liquid over large temperature ranges can provide good heat transfer through many demanding conditions, all with minimal pressurization. Although the most apparent use for these fluids is advanced fission power, they have the potential to be applied to other power generation sources such as fusion, thermal storage, solar, or high-temperature process heat.1–3
J. D. Kotulski, R. S. Coats, M. Ulrickson
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 64 | Number 2 | August 2013 | Pages 146-150
ITER | Proceedings of the Twentieth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (TOFE-2012) (Part 1), Nashville, Tennessee, August 27-31, 2012 | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-A18069
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The prediction of electromagnetic loads on blanket module 1 of the ITER device during a plasma disruption event is considered. This analysis is performed for a number of design variations (of the blanket module) and different disruption events.The key features of the analysis procedure will be presented including the geometric description of the blanket module composed of a first wall, shield block, and vacuum vessel. The modeling of the plasma current will also be described.The electromagnetic analyses are performed using the Opera-3d software. The transient eddy currents are first calculated, from which the electromagnetic loads are determined. Once these loads have been calculated they can also be exported for additional post-processing to assess the mechanical loading effects.
