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Second round of Launch Pad selections includes eight newcomers
The National Reactor Innovation Center at Idaho National Laboratory has announced 13 project selections across 12 companies for the Nuclear Energy Launch Pad, a Department of Energy–led program that integrates reactor and fuel facility authorization, testing, and deployment support for private nuclear developers.
The Launch Pad emerged from the Reactor Pilot Program and Fuel Line Pilot Program.
According to INL, projects selected include reactor development and nuclear fuel cycle advancements, including fabrication, enrichment, and conversion technologies.
R. W. Petzoldt, R. Gallix, D. T. Goodin, E. I. Valmianski, ARIES Team, W. S. Rickman
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 49 | Number 1 | January 2006 | Pages 56-61
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST06-A1085
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The hohlraum surrounds the fuel capsule in a heavy ion fusion (HIF) target. The hohlraum absorbs ion beam driver energy and emits this energy uniformly around the capsule in the form of X-rays. High-atomic-number materials are necessary in the walls of the hohlraum to contain the X-ray energy around the capsule during the implosion process. These high-atomic-number hohlraum materials affect many aspects of an HIF power plant operation. A systematic review of available information for all high-atomic-number elements was conducted to select candidate hohlraum materials. The effects of materials on target fabrication, energy cost, target gain, radioactivity, chemical toxicity, and potential for recycle were considered. Lead and tungsten are the lowest-cost acceptable materials in the primary coolant. The combination of lead and tungsten provide better target gain than either material alone. Seeding the primary coolant with submicron-sized tungsten particles can minimize tungsten growth in small openings in power plant components such as vacuum tritium disengagers. Concerns remain for possible tungsten particle agglomeration, settling, or erosion caused by tungsten particles. Tungsten could be replaced by several lanthanide elements if tungsten proves unacceptable.