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Latest News
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.
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.