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Antares achieves zero-power criticality at INL
Leveraging more than $140 million in private capital fundraising, over 322,000 square feet of operational manufacturing space, and multifaceted partnerships with the Departments of Energy and Defense, reactor start-up Antares has become the first company involved in the Reactor Pilot Program to achieve zero-power fueled criticality—a full month ahead of the July 4 deadline set by President Trump’s Executive Order 14301.
This milestone, announced yesterday, was achieved with the company’s Mark-0: a sodium heat-pipe-cooled, TRISO-fueled microreactor. The Mark-0 is a forerunner to the company’s flagship design, which it calls the R1. For Antares, this development represents a key validation of its reactor physics, control systems, and supply chain.
S. W. Haan, J. Atherton, D. S. Clark, B. A. Hammel, D. A. Callahan, C. J. Cerjan, E. L. Dewald, S. Dixit, M. J. Edwards, S. Glenzer, S. P. Hatchett, D. Hicks, O. S. Jones, O. L. Landen, J. D. Lindl, M. M. Marinak, B. J. Macgowan, A. J. Mackinnon, N. B. Meezan, J. L. Milovich, D. H. Munro, H. F. Robey, J. D. Salmonson, B. K. Spears, L. J. Suter, R. P. Town, S. V. Weber, J. L. Kline, D. C. Wilson
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 63 | Number 2 | March-April 2013 | Pages 67-75
Technical Paper | Selected papers from 20th Target Fabrication Meeting, May 20-24, 2012, Santa Fe, NM, Guest Editor: Robert C. Cook | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-TFM20-31
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The National Ignition Campaign (NIC) on the National Ignition Facility plans to use an indirectly driven spherical implosion to assemble and ignite a mass of D-T fuel. The NIC is currently in the process of conducting a variety of experiments using surrogate targets, meant to define various aspects of the future ignition experiment. Four platforms have been developed: Re-emit targets measure the symmetry of the early part of the pulse, keyhole targets measure the strength and time of shocks, symcap targets measure integrated performance and implosion symmetry, and ConA targets measure implosion velocity and ablator performance. Also, cryogenic layered capsules similar to the ignition design, containing a layer of either D-T or hydrodynamically equivalent tritium-rich fuel, are being fielded. These integrate the laser and target adjustments made during the tuning experiments and test the integrated performance with data on RhoR, temperature, yield, and other diagnostics. In an activity ongoing with these experiments, the point design for ignition is updated and modified as appropriate. This paper summarizes the target designs that are being used for the campaign, the results of the experimental campaign to date, and how the campaign has affected requirements for the eventual ignition experiment.