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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.
John Slough
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 60 | Number 2 | August 2011 | Pages 464-469
Power Plant, Demo, and FNSF | Proceedings of the Nineteenth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (TOFE) (Part 2) | doi.org/10.13182/FST60-464
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An intense neutron source capable of generating the characteristic flux of a fusion reactor (1-4 MW/m2) is an essential element for adequate reactor materials assessment. Based on recent experimental results involving the magneto-kinetic compression of the Field Reversed Configuration (FRC), it is believed that such a fusion based neutron source can be rapidly developed at low cost. The ability to provide a fusion plasma with the necessary radiation intensity is afforded by the considerable increase in fusion neutron yield that occurs concurrently with the large reduction in reacting plasma volume from the straightforward magnetic flux compression of an FRC plasmoid. Pulsed formation and flux compression of FRCs in a prototype device operating at 4 Hz would yield a neutron power fluence at the wall of 1 MW/m2 from a fusion plasma volume of a half liter. This is roughly a factor 106 smaller than a reactor-scale fusion plasma such as ITER, thereby dramatically reducing the cost and time for the evaluation of materials for fusion application. The required magnetic compression field and energy per pulse is less than 16 T and 100 kJ respectively.