ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
Latest Magazine Issues
Jun 2026
Jan 2026
2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
July 2026
Nuclear Technology
June 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
May 2026
Latest News
Antares achieves zero-power criticality at INL
Leveraging more than $140 million in private capital fundraising, over 322,000 square feet of operational manufacturing space, and multifaceted partnerships with the Departments of Energy and Defense, reactor start-up Antares has become the first company involved in the Reactor Pilot Program to achieve zero-power fueled criticality—a full month ahead of the July 4 deadline set by President Trump’s Executive Order 14301.
This milestone, announced yesterday, was achieved with the company’s Mark-0: a sodium heat-pipe-cooled, TRISO-fueled microreactor. The Mark-0 is a forerunner to the company’s flagship design, which it calls the R1. For Antares, this development represents a key validation of its reactor physics, control systems, and supply chain.
B. A. Kalin, A. N. Suchkov, V. T. Fedotov, O. N. Sevryukov, P. V. Morokhov, V. M. Ananiyn, A. A. Ivannikov, A. A. Polyansky, I. V. Mazul, A. N. Makhankov, A. A. Gervash
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 65 | Number 2 | March-April 2014 | Pages 212-221
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST13-667
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
As applied to the manufacture of the ITER first wall, a rapidly quenched copper-based filler metal for brazing chromium-zirconium copper alloy (CuCrZr) with beryllium (Be) at temperatures below 720°C has been selected. The composition of the given filler metal has been optimized by varying the concentration of alloying elements, such as Sn, Ni, and P, improving the filler functional properties and quality. Rapidly quenched ribbon-type filler metals with various contents of alloying elements were investigated by differential thermal and X-ray phase analysis, atomic force microscopy, and scanning electron microscopy. To improve the casting performance of the filler metal and obtain high-quality ribbons, the kinematic viscosity of brazing alloys with various contents of Ni, Sn, and P has been investigated. The chromium-zirconium copper alloy has been brazed with Be using the filler metals obtained (by furnace brazing and fast brazing by passing an electric current). Based on the results of complex research, an ultrafast (quenching rate of ∼105°C/s) quenched brazing alloy STEMET 1101M (Cu-9.1Ni-3.6Sn-8.0P, in weight percent) has been selected and manufactured in the form of a ribbon that is 50 mm in width and 50 μm in thickness. An experimental mock-up of the ITER first wall has been made in D.V. Efremov SRIEA by rapid brazing (by passing a current) using the filler metal STEMET 1101M. The brazed joint has withstood 15 000 cycles of thermocycling under a thermal load of 0.5 to 5.9 MW/m2 without breaking.