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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.
Weibin Li, Yali Wang, Xue Zheng, Yuhong Chen, Yi Wu, Yinqiao Wang, Huajun Li
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 80 | Number 1 | January 2024 | Pages 117-125
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2023.2187252
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The HL-2M device is a new generation tokamak at the Southwestern Institute of Physics that is used to develop nuclear fusion research. To confine the plasma, the toroidal field (TF) coil of HL-2M is needed to output 140-kA direct current to generate a 2.2-T magnetic density flux. Therefore, the TF power supply system was developed. It is powered by two flywheel pulsed motor-generator sets, and a cophase counter parallel connection bridge rectifier was used to provide more current. According to the TF power supply system topology, the amplitude of the magnetic flux density of the TF coil can be tuned by adjusting the excitation system of the flywheel pulse generator; the control strategy and mathematical formula are given. Then, the TF power supply protection system is established, and protection strategies under different faults are designed. The control and protection performance of the TF power supply system has been successfully applied and verified in the first plasma discharge of the HL-2M experiment.