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In transition: Commercializing fusion power
Commercial fusion power is closer than ever. There are now around 30 U.S. fusion companies, several of which claim to be on track to connect to the grid as early as the 2030s.
Tokamak and laser inertial confinement approaches benefit from decades of research at facilities such as the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and ITER, with alternative concepts including stellarator, magnetic mirror, and Z-pinch confinement also making notable progress as private and government funding for fusion increases.
William A. Zanotelli, Stephen M. Craven, Garry D. Miller, William E. Moddeman, Frank Novak, David M. Hercules
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 85 | Number 1 | September 1983 | Pages 17-25
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE83-A17147
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The conditions inside the bubble formed in a hypothetical core disruptive accident (HCDA) of a liquid-metal fast breeder reactor have been simulated with a LAMMA 500 laser microprobe mass analyzer. Results for Na2U2O7 show that negative diuranate and positive sodium uranate ions are produced. Higher laser powers favor greater fragmentation to U+, [UO]+, and [UO2]+. The Na2O/UO2 results indicate vapor phase reactions result in the formation of positive and negative sodium uranate ion intermediates. Positive hydrogen ions are observed in some spectra. Higher laser energies (higher HCDA temperatures) favor sodium uranate ion formation. These data support the view that sodium uranate ionic precursors are formed in the vapor phase, bubble, of a simulated HCDA reaction. A prior argon-ion-excited secondary ion mass spectroscopy investigation of Na2O/UO2 and Na2U2O7 showed no sodium uranate species, only the formation of U+, [UO]+, and [UO2]+.
