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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.
M. A. Abdou, R. E. Nygren, E. Opperman, R. Puigh, G. Wire, G. D. Morgan, C. A. Trachsel, R. Gold
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 4 | Number 2 | September 1983 | Pages 1043-1051
Next-Generation Devices | doi.org/10.13182/FST83-A22996
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The FED/INTOR Critical Issues activity examined three key testing requirements that have the largest impact on the design, operation and cost of FED/INTOR. These are: 1) the total testing time (fluence) during the device lifetime, 2) the minimum number of back-to-back cycles, and 3) the neutron wall load. These requirements were quantified by investigating the benefits/risks to the DEMO from testing structural materials, blankets, and main reactor components in FED/INTOR.