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DOE announces NEPA exclusion for advanced reactors
The Department of Energy has announced that it is establishing a categorical exclusion for the application of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) procedures to the authorization, siting, construction, operation, reauthorization, and decommissioning of advanced nuclear reactors.
According to the DOE, this significant change, which goes into effect today, “is based on the experience of DOE and other federal agencies, current technologies, regulatory requirements, and accepted industry practice.”
B. Misra, D. L. Smith, R. C. Burk, G. D. Morgan
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 4 | Number 2 | September 1983 | Pages 1061-1066
Blanket and First Wall Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST83-A22998
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Liquid lithium-lead eutectic alloy (17 at−% Li-83 at−% Pb, referred to herein as Li-Pb) is currently being considered as a candidate breeding material for fusion reactors. Some important considerations in the design of a Li-Pb blanket are compatibility with the structure, tritium containment and recovery, and safety. Additional design complexities arise because of the high density of Li-Pb, the relatively high melting temperature (235°C), and the high tritium overpressure associated with this alloy. In this study, the Li-Pb eutectic was considered both as the breeder and as the coolant. Thermal hydraulic and stress analyses were conducted to assess the technical feasibility of using Li-Pb as the breeder and coolant based on DEMO reactor conditions. The results of the thermo-mechanical analyses showed that the elongated cylindrical blanket modules made from either HT-9 or vanadium alloy offer a viable first wall/blanket design concept.