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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.
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.