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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.
S. S. Ananyev, A. Yu. Dnestrovskij, A. S. Kukushkin, A. V. Spitsyn, B. V. Kuteev
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 76 | Number 4 | May 2020 | Pages 503-512
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2020.1718855
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The fuel cycle (FC) model FC-FNS is used for the calculation of hydrogen isotope flows in the fuel systems of the DEMO-FNS fusion neutron source (FNS) based on a tokamak with parameters R/a = 3.2 m/1 m, B = 5 T, Ipl = 4 to 5 MA, PNBI = 30 MW, РECR = 6 MW, and deuterium-tritium fusion power Pf = 40 MW. The FC-FNS model includes joint simulation of the gas, solid-state, and plasma flows of the fuel mixtures in the areas of the core and near-wall plasma when neon admixture is injected into the divertors. The basic principles of particle balance formation in the plasma and FC systems are described in the paper. In the process of fueling mode optimization, the requirements for productivity of the key FC systems containing the largest amount of T have been formulated. The FC configuration with the minimum tritium reserve (<2 kg) and the shortest processing time is selected.