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Disney World should have gone nuclear
There is extra significance to the American Nuclear Society holding its annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, this past week. That’s because in 1967, the state of Florida passed a law allowing Disney World to build a nuclear power plant.
Gary E. Rochau, Charles W. Morrow, Peter J. Pankuch
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 43 | Number 3 | May 2003 | Pages 447-455
Technical Paper | Fast Ignition Targets and Z-Pinch Concepts | doi.org/10.13182/FST03-A290
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Z-Pinch Power Plant (ZP-3) is the first concept to use the results at Sandia National Laboratories' Z accelerator in a power plant application. Assuming high-yield fusion pulses (of 1 to 20 GJ per shot at a rate of 0.1 Hz), we consider a unique shock and energy absorbing system to contain the energy. One concept answers the need for system standoff from the fusion reaction with a replaceable mechanical cartridge manufactured on-site. System studies suggest integrated blanket designs for absorbing the fusion energy, cartridge manufacture of recycled materials, and cartridge installation/replacement to maintain a reasonable duty cycle. An effective system design for ZP-3 requires an integrated blanket to shield the permanent structures from the high-energy neutron flux and strong shock wave, breed tritium, and simultaneously absorb the released fusion energy. We investigate the feasibility of this integrated blanket concept and explore the principles of a containment chamber - a crucible - and the containment mechanisms. An operational cycle is proposed to physically load hardware in 10-s intervals while maintaining operational conditions. Preliminary pressure and shock calculations demonstrate that high-yield inertial fusion energy pulses can be contained if the appropriate energy-absorbing materials are used.