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Task force charts growing interest in civilian maritime nuclear applications
Readers of Nuclear News will have heard of historical applications of civilian maritime nuclear power, like the merchant ship NS Savannah and the USS Sturgis floating power plant. With a few exceptions there has been little action in this area for over 50 years, and there are plenty of reasons and opinions as to why, but over the last few years the dramatic increase in interest from the maritime industry and its stakeholders has been undeniable.
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.