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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
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.
Christopher C. Pain, Matthew D. Eaton, Jefferson L. M. A. Gomes, Cassiano R. E. de Oliveira, Adrian P. Umpleby, Kemal Ziver, Ron T. Ackroyd, Bryan Miles, Antony J. H. Goddard, H. van Dam, T. H. J. J. van der Hagen, D. Lathouwers
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 144 | Number 3 | July 2003 | Pages 242-257
Technical Note | doi.org/10.13182/NSE03-A2357
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Previous work into the space-dependent kinetics of the conceptual nuclear fluidized bed has highlighted the sensitivity of fission power to particle movements within the bed. The work presented in this paper investigates a method of stabilizing the fission power by making it less sensitive to fuel particle movement. Steady-state neutronic calculations are performed to obtain a suitable design that is stable to radial and axial fuel particle movements in the bed. Detailed spatial/temporal simulations performed using the finite element transient criticality (FETCH) code investigate the dynamics of the new reactor design. A dual requirement of the design is that it has a moderate power output of ~300 MW(thermal).