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Latest News
Playing the “bad guy” to enhance next-generation safety
Sometimes, cops and robbers is more than just a kid’s game. At the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, researchers are channeling their inner saboteurs to discover vulnerabilities in next-generation nuclear reactors, making sure that they’re as safe as possible before they’re even constructed.
Jon Streit, Diana Schroen
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 43 | Number 3 | May 2003 | Pages 321-326
Technical Paper | Targets and Target Protection During Injection | doi.org/10.13182/FST43-321
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
An overview of the present status of development of a hollow foam shell designed to produce high yields when used in a krypton fluoride inertial fusion energy (IFE) reactor is presented. Prototype shells have been produced from a 100 mg/cm3 density CH foam with an ~4-mm diameter and 300 m wall thickness. A triple-orifice droplet generator was used to form the shells using solutions of an internal water phase, an oil phase (divinylbenzene monomer, dibutyl phthalate solvent, and a radical initiator), and an external water phase. The lowest percent of nonconcentricity measured for a completed shell was 3%, and the lowest average percent of nonconcentricity for a batch of shells was 7%. A technique to overcoat the shells with a 1- to 5-m-thick full-density polymer layer using an interfacial polycondensation reaction is being developed. Methods to further optimize dimensions to produce shells that meet IFE specifications are also discussed.