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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.
G. A. Deis, P. Y. Hsu, K. D. Watts, E. C. Welch
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 4 | Number 2 | September 1983 | Pages 791-796
Blanket and First Wall Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST83-A22957
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The PE-II Solid Breeder Concept Integral Simulation Test is designed to simulate (by way of nonnuclear heating) the thermal-hydraulic/thermomechanical operating characteristics of a water-cooled, Li2O fusion reactor blanket. The test piece consists of a central coolant tube surrounded by a cylinder of solid breeder material. This test piece, which simulates a unit cell of a blanket, is then subjected to an external heat flux and a purge flow of helium at carefully controlled conditions. Instrumentation provides information on temperature profiles, moisture levels, and purge flow conditions. Pretest thermal/stress analysis of this experiment indicates that it can provide an accurate simulation of actual conditions in a prototypical fusion reactor blanket.
