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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.
D. J. Gorman
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 44 | Number 3 | June 1971 | Pages 277-290
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE71-A20161
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
It is generally agreed that lateral vibration of reactor fuel elements is random in nature and is caused by random pressure fluctuations acting on the element surface. A series of tests has been conducted in which a single test element has been subjected to two-phase parallel flow in a circular annulus. Statistical properties of the amplitude of vibration have been measured for various simulated steam qualities with fixed mass flow rate. Statistical properties of the two-dimensional pressure field surrounding the element have also been taken. These properties have been used in conjunction with the linear random vibration theory to arrive at predicted values for vibration amplitude. Good agreement has been found between measured and predicted values of vibration amplitude. It is shown that a high peripheral correlation of the driving forces is primarily responsible for the larger vibrations encountered in two-phase flow. Spectral analysis of the driving forces has been provided with a view toward providing useful information for fuel design.