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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.
Matt K. Michalak, Aaron N. Fancher, Gerald L. Kulcinski, John F. Santarius
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 72 | Number 3 | October 2017 | Pages 449-454
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2017.1330609
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The University of Wisconsin–Madison inertial electrostatic confinement fusion device HOMER was used to perform current scans at low and moderate pressures, 0.3 and 1.0 mTorr of deuterium, in which the cathode voltage, current, and pressure were carefully controlled. The data was taken in short intervals to avoid the degrading effect of chamber heating on the fusion rate. Low pressure operation should harden the deuterium energy spectrum, but the low pressure also reduces target density. The results showed the fusion rates for 0.3 mTorr are about half that at 1 mTorr. Also, the 6 low pressure current scans had confirmed the approximately linear neutron production rates with respect to current. All 6 of the 1 mTorr current scans showed trends of slightly above linear neutron rates. Also, a new IEC steady state D-D neutron production record of 2.5 × 108 n/s was set at 150 kV, 100 mA, and 1.0 mTorr.