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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.
Yahya Sadeghi, Hossain Rasouli, Farid Sedighi, Mehdi Jafargholi, Samaneh Yarmahmoodi, Hojjat Babaee
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 81 | Number 1 | January 2025 | Pages 73-81
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2024.2316989
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The main acting parameters in tokamak plasma experiments, such as currents and electric and magnetic fields, are present inside and outside the plasma volume. To analyze the changes in the shape of tokamak plasma, it is necessary to use experimental data obtained from magnetic measurements. Until recently, a four-digit magnetic probe (MP) was used for qualitative analysis of the magnetic field, but its accuracy was low, and it could not be practically used as a diagnostic system. Following the Magnetic Confinement Group, Tokamak Laboratories’ approach to optimize and improve the measurement of plasma parameters, the use of a richer array of MPs to accurately measure changes in the magnetic field and identify plasma parameters in the Alvand tokamak was considered. In order to upgrade the magnetic diagnostic system, two MP arrays were designed and manufactured. Each array contains 12 poloidal and radial probes. The MPs of each array were attached to Mylar belts and mounted on the vacuum vessel of the tokamak. In addition, an integrator unit was designed and installed as a magnetic diagnostic subsystem. The conducted research involved the MP and calibration setup followed by preliminary tests of the array probe.