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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.
T. Tajima, A. Necas, G. Mourou, S. Gales, M. Leroy
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 77 | Number 4 | May 2021 | Pages 251-265
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2021.1889918
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
We introduce a concept of laser-generated neutrons to transmute transuranic elements separated from spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and dissolved in a molten salt to form a subcritical core whose liquid state allows and facilitates safety, laser irradiation, and monitoring of chemical and physical properties. In this transmutation concept (the transmutator), the neutrons are generated via beam-target fusion whereas the beam is created by laser irradiation of nanometric foils through the Coherent Acceleration of Ions by Laser (CAIL) process. This relatively low deuteron energy is catapulted by fusion and eventually by secondary fission processes. The combination of the use of molten salt and laser allows us to introduce rapid feedback control of the system’s operation. The transmutator is an integral part of the partitioning and transmutation concept whereby the radiotoxicity of SNF is significantly reduced together with the required storage duration and volume. To enable this transmutator, we introduce integrated ideas and processes in the areas of lasers, neutronics, first-wall material, and chemistry.