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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.
Renato Vinicius A. Marques, Marcia Saturnino, Felipe Martins, Carlos Eduardo Velasquez Cabrera, Claubia Pereira Bezerra Lima, Maria Auxiliadora Fortini Veloso, Antonella Lombardi Costa
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 76 | Number 2 | February 2020 | Pages 145-152
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2019.1704594
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Lead-bismuth eutectic is used as a coolant for the fusion-fission hybrid system (FFS) based on a tokamak that enhances the transmutation of transuranic nuclides. However, this coolant does not produce enough tritium to supply the fusion reactions of the system. Therefore, the aim of this work is to evaluate the insertion of tritium breeder layers (TBLs) on the FFS to enhance tritium production. The analyzed materials for tritium production were beryllium, boron, and lithium alloys. The results indicate the most suitable material for tritium production depends on the TBL location. The results also indicate that there is a strong dependency on the position of the TBL affecting the neutronic parameters and nuclide transmutation such as criticality and fuel depletion. The reaction rates for tritium production and fuel composition after a fuel burnup were analyzed using the Monte Carlo N-Particle 5 (MCNP5) and MONTEBURNS codes.