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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.
Toshihiko Yamanishi, Norikiyo Koizumi, Masataka Nakahira, Yoshihiko Nunoya, Satoshi Suzuki, Hiroyuki Tobari, Mieko Kashiwagi, Takaaki Isono, Takashi Inoue, Makoto Sugimoto, Yoshinori Kusama, Yoshinori Kawamura, Hiroyasu Tanigawa, Masaru Nakamichi, Takashi Nozawa, Tsuyoshi Hoshino, Yoshio Ueda, Yuji Hatano, Takeo Muroga, Satoshi Fukada
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 72 | Number 3 | October 2017 | Pages 233-241
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2017.1330625
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Several key components, such as superconducting coils, remote handling equipment, heating systems, have been designed and manufactured by JADA (Japan Domestic Agency). These activities have been carried out in accordance with the agreed schedule; in collaboration with the ITER organization and other domestic agencies. As a significant technical program using ITER, to design and to manufacture the TBS (Test blanket system), some R&D and design activities have also been conducted in Japan. Under the IFERC (the International Fusion Energy Research Center) projects of BA (Broader Approach) activities, design and R&D activities on fusion DEMO reactor have been carried out. For the DEMO R&D activity, five basic R&D subjects for a DEMO blanket system have been selected, and been studies under close collaborations between EU and JA: structure materials (RAFM steels and SiC/SiC composites), functional materials (tritium breeders and neutron multipliers), and tritium technology. From 2007, the above projects produced a set of fruitful results. A series of advanced technologies for the DEMO blanket system has also been carried out by Universities in Japan. Some significant basic R&D studies have also been carried out under US-JA collaborative program.