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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.
Karl Hornyik
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 49 | Number 3 | November 1972 | Pages 247-254
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE72-A22539
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The generation of tritium from the 10B(n, 2α)3H reaction involving boric acid in the coolant-moderator of PWRs is studied. First, the total amount of tritium produced by this process during a core cycle is calculated for the case of base load operation assuming separability of the neutron flux into space, energy, and time modes as well as a linear decrease of the boric acid concentration in compensation for burnup effects. Subsequently, analytic solutions to this problem are obtained for square-wave load-following assuming both total and one particular mode of partial compensation of the reactivity transients due to xenon poisoning by boric acid. The limitation to load following due to practical limitation of the dilution rate is observed. The solutions are expressed in terms of commonly available plant parameters and are presented in graphical form as a function of characteristics of the load following program. The significance of the analysis is illustrated by means of a numerical example; details of the xenon-transient analysis are included as an appendix.