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Playing the “bad guy” to enhance next-generation safety
Sometimes, cops and robbers is more than just a kid’s game. At the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, researchers are channeling their inner saboteurs to discover vulnerabilities in next-generation nuclear reactors, making sure that they’re as safe as possible before they’re even constructed.
G. L. Kulcinski, J. Weidner, B. Cipiti, R. P. Ashley, J. F. Santarius, S. K. Murali, G. Piefer, R. Radel
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 44 | Number 2 | September 2003 | Pages 559-563
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - Nonelectric Applications | doi.org/10.13182/FST03-A397
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A major effort to find near-term, non-electric applications of fusion energy has shown that the production of radioisotopes is attractive. The use of the D3He fusion reaction to produce Positron Emission Tomography (PET) isotopes is described. An Inertial Electrostatic Confinement (IEC) device is particularly well suited to produce low levels of high-energy (14.7 MeV) protons, which in turn, can produce short-lived PET isotopes. The IEC device at the University of Wisconsin has been modified to investigate the potential of this process to be commercially attractive.