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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.
S.N. Thomson, R. Carson, A. Ratnayake, C. Muirhead, H. Li, I. Castillo, H. Boniface, S. Suppiah, J. Robinson
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 67 | Number 2 | March 2015 | Pages 443-446
Proceedings of TRITIUM 2013 | doi.org/10.13182/FST14-T50
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
AECL is currently exposing various commercial Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) materials to both gamma (Cobalt-60 source) and beta (tritiated water) radiation to study the effects of radiation on these materials. This paper summarizes the testing methods and results that have been collected to date. The PEMs being studied range in thickness and production method. These studies provide a baseline for AECL to determine if a correspondence between gamma and beta radiation effects exists and to produce improved radiation resistant membranes.