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North American construction is back—smaller and faster—at OPG’s Darlington
“The nuclear renaissance is real here,” said Ontario Power Generation’s Subo Sinnathamby on May 8, one year to the day after OPG secured a final investment decision to build the first of four planned BWRX-300 reactors at its Darlington nuclear power plant, and shortly after the new reactor’s foundation was lifted into place. “We got our license to construct in April and our [final investment decision] in May, and we’ve been off to the races since.”
J. F. Hund, J. McElfresh, C. A. Frederick, A. Nikroo, A. L. Greenwood, W. Luo
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 51 | Number 4 | May 2007 | Pages 701-704
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1467
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Aluminum oxide aerogel can be used as a backlighter target to provide a radiation source for diagnostics during ICF experiments. To demonstrate the feasibility of this type of target, it was necessary to cast thin pieces of aerogel for plasma emission studies of aluminum oxide. We were able to demonstrate density control over a range of 50-400 mg/cc, and, furthermore, cast the aerogel as a thin (0.6-0.7 mm), smooth monolith that did not require additional machining. The fabrication of these targets begins with a solution of aluminum chloride, ethanol, and water and is then catalyzed with propylene oxide to gel within molds to form the shape. Supercritical drying with carbon dioxide provides the dry aerogel. Various target densities were made by adjusting the relative amounts of starting materials and post treatment condition. The finished materials were characterized for density, pore size, and water content. Initial freestanding targets of 98 mg/cc have been fabricated and shot, and other similar targets of densities from 50-400 mg/cc have been fabricated for future experiments.