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Nuclear Energy Conference & Expo (NECX)
September 8–11, 2025
Atlanta, GA|Atlanta Marriott Marquis
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Fusion Science and Technology
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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.
L. M. Garrison, Y. Katoh, T. Hinoki, N. Hashimoto, J. R. Echols, J. W. Geringer, N. C. Reid, J. P. Allain, B. Cheng, D. Dorow-Gerspach, V. Ganesh, H. Gietl, S. A. Humphry-Baker, E. Lang, I. McCue, J. Riesch, L. L. Snead, G. D. W. Smith, J. R. Trelewicz, Y. Yang, S. J. Zinkle
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 79 | Number 6 | August 2023 | Pages 662-670
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2023.2176687
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The plasma-facing components (PFCs) of future fusion reactors will have intricate structures and require multiple materials because no one material can simultaneously satisfy all the requirements of the component. The dissimilar material joints in PFCs must withstand extreme thermal and stress gradients under neutron irradiation. The Fusion Research Oriented to Neutron Irradiation and Tritium Behavior at Material Interfaces (FRONTIER) U.S.-Japan collaboration seeks to explore and explain the behavior of internal solid interfaces in PFCs under neutron irradiation. The first step of the collaboration was to identify the leading PFCs that should be studied further and prepare them for the next step, which will include neutron irradiation. Different strategies for material development are being pursued worldwide to produce robust PFCs. Here, an overview is presented of some of the most promising materials in the areas of copper alloys, tungsten-copper composites, tungsten-steel composites, additively manufactured tungsten, particle-reinforced tungsten, and tungsten and SiC fiber composites. Each material’s fabrication and benefits are described, and some discussion of remaining questions is given.