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August 24–27, 2026
Dallas, TX|Hilton Anatole
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NRC issues draft EA/FONSI for Duane Arnold restart
Efforts by NextEra Energy to restart the Duane Arnold nuclear power plant as early as 2029 continue to move forward with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's preliminary environmental assessment and determination that the restart would have no significant environmental impacts.
On Thursday, the NRC posted a draft environmental assessment and a finding of no significant impact for the Palo, Iowa, facility; the Federal Register notice was published on Monday. The Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Dominance Financing is a cooperating agency on the draft EA, as the DOE is considering providing financial assistance to the restart project.
Wen-Xuan Zhang, Hong-Na Zhang, Xiao-Bin Li, Feng-Chen Li
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 81 | Number 2 | February 2025 | Pages 144-160
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2024.2343975
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The typical dual-coolant lead-lithium (PbLi) design of a liquid breeder blanket in a magnetic confinement fusion reactor involves the utilization of PbLi as the working fluid to effectively remove neutron heat. However, the nonuniform heating of neutrons with a significant radial gradient induces a buoyancy effect, resulting in the formation of vortexes ices within the downward flow duct. These vortexes have an adverse impact on the heat and mass transfer characteristics of the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) flow of PbLi. The simulations in this work employed a MHD buoyant mixed-convection solver to resolve the characteristics of PbLi flow and a one-way coupled Lagrangian method to analyze the qualitative characteristics of tritium transport in PbLi flow. The results indicate that buoyant reverse flow can create vortexes that contain hot spots in the PbLi fluid, which can significantly impede heat transport. Additionally, the vortex causes tritium recirculation in the flow field and retention, resulting in adverse effects on tritium transport.