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Going Nuclear: Notes from the officially unofficial book tour
I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.
Yu. Igitkhanov, B. Bazylev, I. Landman
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 62 | Number 1 | July-August 2012 | Pages 34-38
PFC and FW Materials Issues | Proceedings of the Fifteenth International Conference on Fusion Reactor Materials, Part A: Fusion Technology | doi.org/10.13182/FST12-A14108
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The thermal performance of the first wall (FW) monoblock module, made from carbon fiber composite (CFC) or tungsten alloy with a castellated plasma phasing surface, was analyzed for runaway electron (RE) impact under reactor conditions. A water cooling system with Cu pipes embedded into the module is used. Calculations demonstrate that, in ITER, for an expected RE pulse duration [approximately]0.1sec and deposition energy of [approximately]30MJ/m2 , the heat generation in a W monoblock occurs within a thin surface layer ([approximately]10m) which, however, does not melt. In the CFC case, heat generation occurs deep in the bulk ([approximately]1000m), but CFC does not experience brittle destruction. The intense X-ray radiation caused by runaways is strongly attenuated within a 10-mm-thick layer of W and does not pose any threat for the cooling system. For the CFC case, a small but significant heat generation caused by the RE can occur in the Cu pipe.