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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.
Robin Miles, Allan Chang, Francesco Fornasiero, Mark Havstad, Sergei Kucheyev, Mary Leblanc, Paul Rosso, Greg Schebler
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 66 | Number 2 | October 2014 | Pages 343-348
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/FST14-779
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Inertial fusion energy (IFE) targets injected into fusion chambers must withstand the demanding acceleration forces and the intense thermal environment of the fusion chamber. For indirect targets, the ultrathin capsule support membrane is the target component that is most sensitive to acceleration forces. Maintaining the deuterium-tritium (DT) temperature, to prevent a significant increase in DT vapor pressure, is the most critical thermal requirement. Secondarily, material selection of the high-temperature laser entrance hole window is required. This paper briefly describes how these requirements are satisfied for a laser-driven IFE plant design.