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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.
J. A. Fooks, L. C. Carlson, P. Fitzsimmons, E. Giraldez, D. N. Kaczala, M. Wei, N. Alexander, M. P. Farrell, J. Betcher, A. Harvey-Thompson, T. Nagayama
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 73 | Number 3 | April 2018 | Pages 423-433
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2017.1389605
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion experimental campaign conducted at the University of Rochester’s Laboratory for Laser Energetics has evolved significantly since its start in 2014. Scientific requirements and OMEGA Extended Performance (EP) system technology both have progressed, resulting in necessary and available updates to the target design. These include, but are not limited to, optimizing target dimensions and aspect ratios to maximize survival at desired pressures; coating target components to improve physics diagnosis; precision-machining diagnostic windows along the axis of the target for enhanced diagnostic views; improving fiducial placement reproducibility and reducing subsequent assembly time by 50%; and implementing gas-pressure transducers on the targets. In addition, target fabrication techniques have changed and advanced, allowing for better target reproducibility and decreased assembly time. To date, 11 variations of targets have been fabricated, with successful target fielding ranging from 1- to 20 atm internal pressure and a maximum survivability of 33 atm.