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Conference Spotlight
Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Deep geologic repository progress—2025 Update
Editor's note: This article has was originally published in November 2023. It has been updated with new information as of June 2025.
Outside my office, there is a display case filled with rock samples from all over the world. It contains a disk of translucent, orange salt from the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant near Carlsbad, N.M.; a core of white-and-bronze gneiss from the site of the future deep geologic repository in Eurajoki, Finland; several angular chunks of fine-grained, gray claystone from the underground research laboratory at Bure, France; and a piece of coarse-grained granite from the underground research tunnel in Daejeon, South Korea.
A. C. Uggenti, G. F. Nallo, A. Carpignano, N. Pedroni, R. Zanino
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 78 | Number 3 | April 2022 | Pages 186-198
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2021.1984720
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A preliminary but systematic safety analysis of a liquid metal divertor (LMD) for the EU DEMO performed by means of the Functional Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FFMEA) is presented. This methodology is suitable for the analysis of the LMD, which is undergoing preconceptual design. In fact, the FFMEA compensates for the lack of detailed design information by postulating the loss of a system function, rather than a specific component failure.
The implementation of the FFMEA led to a better understanding of the safety and operational issues associated with the system and to the identification of a list of postulated initiating events (PIEs), i.e., the most challenging conditions for the plant. The PIEs, together with their possible consequences, represent an input for future quantitative safety analyses. Due to the early design stage of the LMD and the iterative nature of the methodology, this list will evolve alongside the design detail and with improvements in the understanding of phenomena driving reactor behavior.
The study highlighted some safety-relevant issues, e.g., those related to materials compatibility and system modularity, to be addressed in the perspective of a safety-driven design evolution.