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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.
Kedar Bhope, Mayur Mehta, Samir Khirwadkar, Sunil Belsare, Rajamannar Swamy, Tusharkumar Patel, Premjit singh Kongkham, Srikanta Sahu, Nikunj Patel, Prakash Mokariya
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 81 | Number 7 | October 2025 | Pages 671-690
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2025.2495495
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Plasma-facing components (PFCs) with tungsten armor material are expected to withstand the extreme incident heat flux conditions in a nuclear fusion tokomak. In situ measurements of thermal-mechanical behavior under high heat flux (HHF) conditions are important and essential. With this aim, a novel three-dimensional (3D) (stereo) digital image correlation (DIC) diagnostics with an optical mirror adapter in a single optical view port is established for in situ measurements of a full-field strain and deformation profile on PFCs during heat flux testing in the High Heat Flux Test Facility (HHFTF) at the Institute for Plasma Research. In the present work, the thermally induced field deformations of a reflector divertor mock-up under the heat flux conditions of 200 hHF cycles at 5 MW/m2 and 1000 hHF cycles at 7 MW/m2 are measured using the developed 3D-DIC diagnostics. Calibration and validation qualification tests are conducted on the experimental platform as well as numerical COMSOL simulation to ensure the performance and the accuracy of the 3D-DIC diagnostics system. Because of periodic thermal stress, the thermomechanical behavior cases of bonded and de-bonded W-Cu tile interface are captured in situ by measured strain curves and compared with pre-ultrasonic and post-ultrasonic test analyses. Full-field strain and displacement profiles on the reflector divertor mock-up during heat flux testing are also obtained. The 3D-DIC diagnostics results demonstrate the feasibility and accuracy for in situ strain and displacement measurements of PFCs during HHF tests in HHFTF.