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Latest News
DOE announces NEPA exclusion for advanced reactors
The Department of Energy has announced that it is establishing a categorical exclusion for the application of National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) procedures to the authorization, siting, construction, operation, reauthorization, and decommissioning of advanced nuclear reactors.
According to the DOE, this significant change, which goes into effect today, “is based on the experience of DOE and other federal agencies, current technologies, regulatory requirements, and accepted industry practice.”
J. D. Galambos, D. J. Strickler, N. A. Uckan
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 34 | Number 3 | November 1998 | Pages 573-578
Plasma Engineering (Poster Session) | doi.org/10.13182/FST98-A11963675
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The tokamak systems code (SuperCode) is used to identify lower-cost ITER options. Superconducting coil, lower-cost options are found by: (1) reducing the ITER technical objectives (e.g., driven burn and lower wall load), (2) using more aggressive physics (advanced physics) assumptions (e.g., higher shaping, better confinement, higher beta, etc.), and (3) more aggressive engineering assumptions (reduced shield/gaps and inductive requirements). Under ITER nominal physics assumptions, but designing for a driven Q = 10 operation results in ∼30% cost reduction if the required neutron wall load is dropped to 0.5 MW/m2. Assuming advanced physics guidelines leads to cost savings of up to 40% in an ignited device with a major radius as low as R = 5.5 m. Designing this device for Q = 10 results in additional cost savings of 10%. If reduced inboard shield and scrapeoff is assumed, and no inductive capability is required, machine size and cost benefits tend to saturate at about R = 5 m and 50% of the ITER-EDA cost.