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September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Deep geologic repository progress—2025 Update
Editor's note: This article has was originally published in November 2023. It has been updated with new information as of June 2025.
Outside my office, there is a display case filled with rock samples from all over the world. It contains a disk of translucent, orange salt from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M.; a core of white-and-bronze gneiss from the site of the future deep geologic repository in Eurajoki, Finland; several angular chunks of fine-grained, gray claystone from the underground research laboratory at Bure, France; and a piece of coarse-grained granite from the underground research tunnel in Daejeon, South Korea.
D. Smith, M. Billone, Y. Gohar, A. Raffray, W. Daenner, D. Lorenzetto, C. Baker, I. Sviatoslavsky, A. Anitipenkov, A. Siderov, S. Mori, T. Kuroda, K. Maki, H. Takatsu, H. Yoshida, G. Simbolotti, G. Shatalov
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 19 | Number 3 | May 1991 | Pages 1424-1431
ITER | Proceedings of the Ninth Topical Meeting on the Technology of Fusion Energy (Oak Brook, Illinois, October 7-11, 1990) | doi.org/10.13182/FST91-A29542
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The terms of reference for ITER provide for incorporation of a tritium breeding blanket with a breeding ratio as close to unity as practical.1–4 A breeding blanket is required to assure an adequate supply of tritium to meet the program objectives. Based on specified design criteria, a ceramic breeder concept with water coolant and an austenitic steel structure has been selected as the first option and lithium-lead blanket concept has been chosen as an alternate option. The first wall, blanket, and shield are integrated into a single unit with separate cooling systems. The design makes extensive use of beryllium to enhance the tritium breeding ratio. The design goals with a tritium breeding ratio of 0.8–0.9 have been achieved and the R&D requirements to qualify the design have been identified.