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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Constellation seeks subsequent license renewal for Dresden
Constellation Energy has filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a subsequent license renewal for its Dresden nuclear power plant in Illinois. The extension would allow Dresden to run through 2051.
The filing begins a comprehensive, multiyear review by the NRC. Unit 2 is currently licensed to operate through 2029 and Unit 3 through 2031. The facility’s license was first renewed by the NRC in 2004.
Jason Wilson, James Becnel, David Demange, Bernice Rogers
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 75 | Number 8 | November 2019 | Pages 802-809
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2019.1629249
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The tokamak exhaust processing (TEP) system performs chemical separations on ITER fuel cycle process streams. TEP recovers hydrogen isotopes (Q2) from impurities such as argon, nitrogen, tritiated water (Q2O), tritiated ammonia (NQ3), and tritiated hydrocarbons such as methane (CQ4). TEP sends the hydrogen isotopes for subsequent processing to the isotope separation system or the storage and delivery system. At the same time, an impurity gas stream of extremely low tritium content (less than 8.88 TBq of tritium per day) is produced and sent to the detritiation system (DS). To accomplish the separation, the major hydrogen processing subsystems within TEP are hydrogen-like processing (HLP) and air-like processing/water-like processing (ALP/WLP). (Hydrogen-like gases are Q2, He, and Ne; air-like gases are Ar, O2, N2, O2, and CQ4; and water-like gases are Q2O and NQ3). The main processing equipment used for the HLP is a series of palladium-silver permeators (PMs) with ALP/WLP using a series of Palladium Membrane Reactors (PMRs). Aspen Dynamics is the primary tool for verifying system performance of the TEP design. Aspen Dynamics is a commercial, equation-based simulation package for chemical processing. The software enables the user to develop a process model from predefined unit-operation models or construct its own unique unit-operations model. Verification of the TEP simulation model to experimental data was achieved during the TEP conceptual design. The designs for the TEP HLP and ALP/WLP subsystems are examined for the updated gas inputs in terms of compositions and flow rates. The TEP simulation is used to predict tritium output of the TEP processing subsystems This paper describes how the Aspen model of the equipment was improved and used to size the equipment (PMs and PMRs) to process the various gas streams and maintain the discharge to DS to below the limit.