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Fusion Science and Technology
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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.
G. P. Sabol, S. G. McDonald
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 63 | Number 1 | May 1977 | Pages 83-90
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.13182/NSE77-A27007
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Alloying additions of 0.5 and 1.0 wt% niobium, respectively, have been added to Zircaloy-4 in an attempt to improve its high-temperature corrosion resistance. Ingots of these modified alloys were fabricated to a 0.76-mm-thick sheet via a processing sequence compatible with commercial tubing production and were given one of four different final anneals. Subsequent testing indicated that the niobium additions had little or no effect on corrosion resistance in 360°C water. In 427°C steam, however, the 0.5%-niobium addition provided increased resistance to spalling, while the 1.0%-niobium addition decreased both cumulative weight gains and post-transition corrosion rates. The weight gains exhibited by the 0.5%-niobium alloy were relatively insensitive to final heat treatment, whereas the 1.0%-niobium alloy suffered a degradation in properties as the extent of the final anneal increased. These trends in corrosion performance were subsequently correlated with the second-phase particle size distributions present in the alloys, the best performance being obtained when the mean particle diameter was <400 to 500 Å. It was concluded that both niobium additions improved the corrosion performance of Zircaloy-4 at elevated temperatures, but that the best performance was obtained at the 1.0-wt%-niobium level.