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Second round of Launch Pad selections includes eight newcomers
The National Reactor Innovation Center at Idaho National Laboratory has announced 13 project selections across 12 companies for the Nuclear Energy Launch Pad, a Department of Energy–led program that integrates reactor and fuel facility authorization, testing, and deployment support for private nuclear developers.
The Launch Pad emerged from the Reactor Pilot Program and Fuel Line Pilot Program.
According to INL, projects selected include reactor development and nuclear fuel cycle advancements, including fabrication, enrichment, and conversion technologies.
Sümer Şahin, Mohammad Al-Eshaikh
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 12 | Number 3 | November 1987 | Pages 395-408
Technical Paper | Blanket Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST87-A25071
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In a source-driven fissionable blanket, a flat fission power density (FPD) is achieved by using a mixed fuel (ThO2 and natural UO2) with the thorium/uranium ratio changing from front to back in the ten fuel rows along the radial direction. A straightforward graphic method is used. The temporal behavior of the FPD has been observed for an operation period of 6 months and for a plant load factor of 75% by applying a fusion driver neutron flux of 1014 14-MeV neutrons/(cm2·s) at the first wall, corresponding to ∼2.25 MW/m2. To keep the power density flat, it is necessary to replace the fuel in rows 1, 2, and 3, close to the first wall. The time intervals for this operation increase, counting from initial start-up, typically, 2 months, 6 months, etc. One result of this study is that plutonium produced in such a hybrid blanket contains very low amounts of even isotopic components even over very long operation times of ∼3 yr. Hence, if fusion reactors are introduced into the energy market, special regulations are needed for international safeguarding.