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Going Nuclear: Notes from the officially unofficial book tour
I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.
M. Z. Youssef, M. E. Sawan
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 47 | Number 3 | April 2005 | Pages 518-523
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - First Wall, Blanket, and Shield | doi.org/10.13182/FST05-A736
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The US has considered, among other options, two blanket concepts for Demo reactor in which helium is primarily used to cool the first wall (FW) and structure whereas molten salt (MS) is used as both coolant and breeder. Conventional reduced activation ferritic steel (RAFS, F82H) is used as the structural material in both blanket concepts. The low melting point Flibe (~380°C) is used in the first option while the Flinabe (~305°C) is used in the second option. In this paper, we present the results for assessing the radioactivity and decay heat. This assessment is performed separately for the structural material, the Be multiplier and the breeder (Flibe/Flinabe). The Class C waste disposal rating (WDR) was estimated for each material. For Flibe, Flinabe and Be the WDR is much lower than unity. However, the WDR for F82H is ~0.6-1.3. They are attributed to reactions with Mo and Nb present in F82H with levels of 70 wppm and 4 wppm, respectively. To ensure that F82H qualifies for shallow land burial, it is suggested to reduce these two impurities to ~50 and ~3 wppm, respectively.