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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.
Paul A. Roth, J, Stephen Herring
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 4 | Number 2 | September 1983 | Pages 1121-1126
Environment and Safety | doi.org/10.13182/FST83-A23008
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Recent fusion reactor conceptual designs include pressurized water as the coolant for the first wall and blanket. To determine design adequacy, the consequences of a pressurized water cooling tube failure within the blanket have been analyzed using the time-dependent computer code ATHENA. The ATHENA code, being developed by EG&G Idaho, Inc., simulates safety related transients in fusion blankets, first walls, and other reactor systems. The analysis showed that some blanket design modifications must be made to ensure module integrity following an internal cooling tube break.
