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Playing the “bad guy” to enhance next-generation safety
Sometimes, cops and robbers is more than just a kid’s game. At the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, researchers are channeling their inner saboteurs to discover vulnerabilities in next-generation nuclear reactors, making sure that they’re as safe as possible before they’re even constructed.
M. Zucchetti, F. Bombarda, B. Coppi
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 61 | Number 1 | January 2012 | Pages 222-226
Fusion-Fission Hybrids and Transmutation | Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Emerging Nuclear Energy Systems | doi.org/10.13182/FST12-A13423
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The foreseen future expansion of nuclear power would involve a solution to burn the long half-life transuranics (TRU) in the spent nuclear fuel discharged from LWRs. Moreover, high-energy neutrons can be very useful for many processes. The study addresses the development of a tokamak neutron source for a hybrid fission-fusion demonstration experimental device, using Ignitor-based technologies. Ignitor is a proposed compact high magnetic field tokamak, aimed at reaching ignition in DT plasmas. A revision of its operating parameters, in order to act a as a suitable neutron source in a hybrid device, is discussed, and a new operating scenario is proposed. Features of the tokamak neutron source are illustrated and preliminary results are discussed. A two-phase project is described, in order to test an Ignitor-based neutron source and then implement an experimental device for demonstration of technical feasibility of TRU transmutation.