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Latest News
Norway’s Halden reactor takes first step toward decommissioning
The government of Norway has granted the transfer of the Halden research reactor from the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE) to the state agency Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND). The 25-MWt Halden boiling water reactor operated from 1958 to 2018 and was used in the research of nuclear fuel, reactor internals, plant procedures and monitoring, and human factors.
A. René Raffray, Mark S. Tillack, Mohamed A. Abdou
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 23 | Number 3 | May 1993 | Pages 281-308
Technical Paper | Blanket Engineering | doi.org/10.13182/FST93-A30157
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Thermal control is an important issue for ceramic breeder blankets since the breeder needs to operate within its temperature window for the tritium release and inventory to be acceptable. A thermal control region is applicable not only to situations where the coolant can be run at low temperature, such as for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) base blanket, but also to ITER test module and power reactor situations, where it would allow for ceramic breeder operation over a wide range of power densities in space and time. Four thermal control mechanisms applicable to ceramic breeder blanket designs are described: a helium gap, a beryllium sintered block region, a beryllium sintered block region with a metallic felt at the beryllium-cladding interface, and a beryllium packed-bed region. Key advantages and issues associated with each of these mechanisms are discussed. Experimental and modeling studies focusing on beryllium packed-bed thermal conductivity and wall conductance, and beryllium sintered block-stainless steel cladding contact resistance are then described. Finally, an assessment of the potential of the different mechanisms for both passive and active control is carried out based on example calculations for a given set of ITER-like conditions.