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Fusion energy: Progress, partnerships, and the path to deployment
Over the past decade, fusion energy has moved decisively from scientific aspiration toward a credible pathway to a new energy technology. Thanks to long-term federal support, we have significantly advanced our fundamental understanding of plasma physics—the behavior of the superheated gases at the heart of fusion devices. This knowledge will enable the creation and control of fusion fuel under conditions required for future power plants. Our progress is exemplified by breakthroughs at the National Ignition Facility and the Joint European Torus.
Tsendsuren Amarjargal, Jun Nishiyama, Toru Obara
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 197 | Number 4 | April 2023 | Pages 711-718
Technical Note | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2022.2129952
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The purpose of this study is to clarify the possibility of designing a small rotational fuel-shuffling breed-and-burn fast reactor (RFBB) with nitride fuel and sodium coolant based on neutronic and heat removal analyses. In these reactor analyses, uranium nitride fuel with a helium bond and sodium coolant was applied to the RFBB, whose thermal power is 450 MW. The structural and cladding materials are oxide dispersion-strengthened ferritic steel. Calculation results showed that the core with rotational fuel shuffling achieved an equilibrium state at criticality near unity, and the average discharge burnup of discharged fuel was 187 MWd/kg heavy metal. In this equilibrium state, reactor characteristics, such as neutron flux and the power profile, were almost stable, and the maximum displacements-per-atom value was slightly higher than 650. A steady-state heat removal analysis was performed for the hottest channel in the core, revealing that the fuel temperature was lower than the operational limit temperature and that the cladding temperature was lower than its melting temperature. However, it was slightly higher than the suggested value of 600°C for retaining nitride fuel integrity for high burnup. It was shown that the core radius could be smaller than that of the metal-fueled core of the previous study.