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RIC panel discusses pathway to fusion commercialization
Fusion leaders at the Nuclear Regulatory Commission’s annual Regulatory Information Conference discussed the path forward for regulating the burgeoning fusion industry. The speakers discussed government and private industry initiatives in the United States and United Kingdom, with a focus on efforts shaping the near-term deployment of commercial fusion machines.
A recurring theme was the need to explain the difference between fission and fusion. Representatives from the Department of Energy and Type One Energy highlighted this as an important distinction for regulators, as it will allow fusion to undergo its own independent maturation process for developing standards and regulations in the same way that fission has. Lea Perlas, Fusion Program director at the Virginia Department of Health, said that confusion between fission and fusion has been a common cause for misplaced concerns among community members surrounding Commonwealth Fusion Systems’ proposed fusion plant site near Richmond, Va.
S. K. Combs, S. L. Milora, C. A. Foster, D. D. Schuresko, J. T. Hogan
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 4 | Number 2 | September 1983 | Pages 666-674
Plasma Heating, Impurity Control, and Fueling | doi.org/10.13182/FST83-A22936
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Pellet injectors that produce and accelerate frozen hydrogen isotope pellets are being developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) for fueling of present and future plasma fusion devices. The development has focused primarily on two types of injectors: (1) gas guns, which utilize a pneumatic approach to accelerate pellets in a barrel with compressed helium or hydrogen propellant, and (2) centrifuge-type injectors, in which pellets are accelerated by centrifugal forces in a high-speed rotating track. In a single-pellet pneumatic injector, pellet speeds up to 1.4 km/s have been achieved. Three multipellet injection systems (ORNL four-pellet pneumatic design) are now functional, one each on the Poloidal Divertor Experiment (PDX), Alcator-C, and the Impurity Study Experiment (ISX-B). Currently, two repetitive devices (one of each injector type) are in operation to demonstrate steady-state fueling systems in the reactor-relevant parameter ranges of 1-km/s pellet velocity, variable pellet sizes up to 2 mm, and feed rates up to 10–40 pellets/s. The injector designs are described and operating characteristics discussed.