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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.
Abraham J. Fetterman, Nathaniel J. Fisch
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 59 | Number 1 | January 2011 | Pages 136-139
doi.org/10.13182/FST11-A11592
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Centrifugal mirrors use supersonic rotation to provide axial confinement and enhanced stability. Usually the rotation is produced using electrodes, but these electrodes have limited the rotation to the Alfven critical ionization velocity, which is too slow to be useful for fusion. Instead, the rotation could be produced using radio frequency waves. A fixed azimuthal ripple is a simple and efficient wave that could produce rotation by harnessing alpha particle energy. This is an extension of the alpha channeling effect. The alpha particle power and efficiency in a simulated devices is sufficient to produce rotation without external energy input. By eliminating the need for electrodes, this opens new opportunities for centrifugal traps.