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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.
R. Gallix, J. W. Crippen, D. G. Czechowicz, A. C. Forsman, E. M. Giraldez, J. F. Hund, J. S. Jaquez, A. Q. L. Nguyen
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 51 | Number 4 | May 2007 | Pages 772-775
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST07-A1477
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
For electricity production in a 1000 MW(e) Z-Pinch Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) power plant, a wire array must be produced and shot every second. The slow and painstaking manual assembly and insertion process developed for the present Z-Pinch experimental machines will have to be replaced with mass production and rapid auto matic handling. This could be facilitated by making one-piece, or unitized, wire arrays (UWA). This paper reviews potential UWA manufacturing processes; describes the results of etching, milling, laser-cutting, and lithography tests applied to an UWA design that could be shot on the Z-R machine for validation; assesses the feasibility of these processes for mass production; and proposes an alternate UWA design concept for easier manufacturing.