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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.
C. P. C. Wong et al.
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 64 | Number 3 | September 2013 | Pages 623-630
Test Blanket, Fuel Cycle, and Breeding | Proceedings of the Twentieth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (TOFE-2012) (Part 2) Nashville, Tennessee, August 27-31, 2012 | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-A19161
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Under the US Fusion Nuclear Science and Technology Development program, we have selected the Dual Coolant Lead Lithium concept (DCLL) as a reference blanket, which has the potential to be a high performance DEMO blanket design with a projected thermal efficiency of >40%. Reduced activation ferritic/martensitic (RAF/M) steel is used as the structural material. The self-cooled breeder PbLi is circulated for power conversion and for tritium breeding. A SiC-based flow channel insert (FCI) is used as a means for magnetohydrodynamic pressure drop reduction from the circulating liquid PbLi and as a thermal insulator to separate the high-temperature PbLi (~700°C) from the helium-cooled RAF/M steel structure. We are making progress on related R&D needs to address critical Fusion Nuclear Science and Facility (FNSF) and DEMO blanket development issues. While performing the function as the Interface Coordinator for the DCLL blanket concept, we were developing the mechanical design and performing neutronics, structural and thermal hydraulics analyses of the DCLL TBM module. We estimated the necessary ancillary equipment that will be needed at the ITER site, and a detailed safety impact report was prepared. This provided additional understanding of the DCLL blanket concept in preparation for the FNSF and DEMO. This paper is a summary report on the progress of the DCLL TBM design and R&D for the DCLL blanket concept.