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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.”
D. E. Post, N. A. Uckan
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 21 | Number 3 | May 1992 | Pages 1427-1433
International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/FST92-A29922
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
While the determination of the optimum parameters for a tokamak involves the complex trade-off of a large number of engineering and physics constraints, the overall dimensions are actually determined by a relatively simple set of criteria. These criteria are based on the tokamak radial build and elementary physics and engineering requirements, including guidelines for nTτE, the aspect ratio, A=R/a, the edge safety factor, qψ95%, the plasma elongation, the size of the neutron shield, and the peak field at the toroidal field coil. Two of these parameters, the aspect ratio and plasma elongation, can be chosen so as to optimize the design parameters and minimize the size and cost of the tokamak. The ITER design point of R ∼ 6 m and a ∼ 2 m follows from these constraints and the parameter choices for aspect ratio and elongation.