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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.
K. Nojiri, M. Sakamoto, K. Oki, M. Yoshikawa, Y. Nakashima, M. Yoshikawa, A. Terakado, R. Nohara, M. Mizuguchi, T. Imai, M. Ichimura
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 68 | Number 1 | July 2015 | Pages 120-124
Technical Paper | Open Magnetic Systems 2014 | doi.org/10.13182/FST14-893
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In GAMMA 10/PDX, the relationship between electron density and temperature of the divertor simulation plasma in the divertor simulation experimental module (D-module) and the density of the upstream plasma has been studied. As the amount of gas (H2 and Ar) injected into the D-module increases, the line-averaged electron density (ne_WP) of the west plug plasma (i.e., upstream plasma) increases due to gas flow from the D-module to the upstream. The electron temperature of the divertor simulation plasma monotonically decreases with increase in ne_WP. The electron density of the divertor simulation plasma becomes saturated against increase in ne_WP when the plasma is sustained only by the ion cyclotron heating. This may suggest a sign of the beginning of the density roll-over. Additional electron cyclotron heating to the upstream plasma increases the density of both the upstream plasma and the divertor simulation plasma, and the saturated density of the divertor simulation plasma recovers to a linear dependence on ne_WP, suggesting an enhanced ionization of neutral gases in the upstream and the D-module.