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Latest News
Commercial nuclear innovation "new space" age
In early 2006, a start-up company launched a small rocket from a tiny island in the Pacific. It exploded, showering the island with debris. A year later, a second launch attempt sent a rocket to space but failed to make orbit, burning up in the atmosphere. Another year brought a third attempt—and a third failure. The following month, in September 2008, the company used the last of its funds to launch a fourth rocket. It reached orbit, making history as the first privately funded liquid-fueled rocket to do so.
Didier Perrault
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 75 | Number 5 | July 2019 | Pages 339-344
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2019.1594538
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The decree authorizing the creation of the ITER facility was published on November 9, 2012, with the provisions adopted having been considered mostly acceptable. However, it is the first fusion facility of this kind to require a creation decree and the design of some of the systems had not yet been finalized. Moreover, while some equipment, with their associated safety requirements, are indeed classic and well known, others are uncommon and their safety requirements, although considered acceptable, are requesting justification.
Therefore, the decree was supported by about 200 requests, which have to be met during the facility startup schedule. This paper takes stock of the current situation and presents the current status of the main expected answers, taking into account the design evolution which has been further proposed by the operator (e.g., the new vacuum vessel pressure suppression system, etc.).
Some safety issues have already been considered as solved (the tokamak support design, accident within the neutral beam cell, etc.). Others are estimated not to be completely satisfactory (e.g., explosion within the vacuum vessel). Before moving on to commissioning, a few issues are still pending (detritiation system efficiency, radiation protection, etc.) and additional studies regarding the final design are expected (hot cells, tritium and waste buildings, etc.).