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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.
Tay-Jian Liu, Chien-Hsiung Lee
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 146 | Number 3 | March 2004 | Pages 274-290
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE04-A2410
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A complete scheme of scaling methods to design the reduced-height, reduced-pressure (RHRP) Institute of Nuclear Energy Research Integral System Test (IIST) facility and to specify test conditions for incident simulation was developed. In order to preserve core decay power history and coolant mass inventory during a transient, a unique power-to-mass scaling method is proposed and utilized for RHRP and full-height, full-pressure (FHFP) systems. To validate the current scaling method, three counterpart tests done at the IIST facility are compared with the FHFP tests in small-break loss-of-coolant, station blackout, and loss-of-feedwater accidents performed at the Large-Scale Test Facility (LSTF) and the BETHSY test facility. Although differences appeared in design, scaling, and operation conditions among the IIST, LSTF, and BETHSY test facilities, the important physical phenomena shown in the facilities are almost the same. The physics involved in incident transient phenomena are well measured and modeled by showing the common thermal-hydraulic behavior of key parameters and the general consistency of chronological events. The results also confirm the adequacy of power-to-mass scaling methodology.