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MARVEL PDSA approval could serve as blueprint
MARVEL, the Microreactor Applications Research Validation and Evaluation project at Idaho National Laboratory, has had its preliminary documented safety analysis approved by the Department of Energy, marking a milestone in its development and serving as a potential outline for other microreactors in development.
G.L. Kulcinski, G.A. Emmert, J.P. Blanchard, L.A. El-Guebaly, H.Y. Khater, J.F. Santarius, M.E. Sawan, I.N. Sviatoslavsky, L.J. Wittenberg, R.J. Witt
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 15 | Number 2 | March 1989 | Pages 1233-1244
Commercial Reactors, Economics and Power Conversion | doi.org/10.13182/FST89-A39861
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A preconceptual design of a tokamak reactor fueled by a D-He-3 plasma is presented, A low aspect ratio (A=2–4) device is studied here but high aspect ratio devices (A > 6) may also be quite attractive. The Apollo D-He-3 tokamak capitalizes on recent advances in high field magnets (20 T) and utilizes rectennas to convert the synchrotron radiation directly to electricity. The overall efficiency ranges from 37 to 52% depending on whether the bremsstrahlung energy is utilized. The low neutron wall loading (0.1 MW/m2) allows a permanent first wall to be designed and the low nuclear decay heat enables the reactor to be classed as inherently safe. The cost of electricity from Apollo is > 40% lower than electricity from a similar sized DT reactor.