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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.”
Saurin Majumdar
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 21 | Number 1 | January 1992 | Pages 12-24
Technical Paper | First-Wall Technology | doi.org/10.13182/FST92-A29701
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Because of the presence of high cyclic thermal stress, coolant pressure-induced primary stress, and disruption-induced high cyclic primary stress, ratcheting (i.e., incremental accumulation of plastic strain) in the first wall poses a serious challenge to the designers of the U.S. International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). Existing design tools, such as the Bree diagram in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers Boiler and Pressure Vessels Code, are not directly applicable to the U.S. ITER because of important differences in geometry and loading modes. Available alternative models for ratcheting are discussed, and new Bree diagrams, which are more relevant for fusion reactor applications, are proposed.