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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.”
Ralph W. Moir
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 21 | Number 3 | May 1992 | Pages 1475-1486
Inertial Fusion Reactor Studies | doi.org/10.13182/FST92-A29929
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The HYLIFE-II inertial fusion power plant design study uses a liquid fall, in the form of jets, to protect the first structural wall from neutron damage, x rays, and blast to provide a 30-y lifetime. HYLIFE-I used liquid lithium. HYLIFE-II avoids the fire hazard of lithium by using a molten salt composed of fluorine, lithium, and beryllium (Li2BeF4) called Flibe. Access for heavy-ion beams is provided. Calculations for assumed heavy-ion beam performance show a nominal gain of 70 at 5 MJ producing 350 MJ, about 5.2 times less yield than the 1.8 GJ from a driver energy of 4.5 MJ with gain of 400 for HYLIFE-I. The nominal 1 GWe of power can be maintained by increasing the repetition rate by a factor of about 5.2, from 1.5 to 8 Hz. A higher repetition rate requires faster re-establishment of the jets after a shot, which can be accomplished in part by decreasing the jet fall height and increasing the jet flow velocity. In addition, although not adequately considered for FIYLIFE-I, there is liquid splash that must be forcibly cleared because gravity is too slow, at higher repetition rates than 1 Hz. Splash removal is accomplished in the central region by oscillating jet flows. The cost of electricity is estimated to be 0.09 $/kW-h in constant 1988 dollars, about twice that of future coal and light water reactor nuclear power. The driver beam cost is about one-half the total cost, that is, a zero cost driver would give a calculated cost of electricity of 0.045 $/kWh.