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Fusion Science and Technology
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.
E. A. Mogahed, L. El-Guebaly, A. Abdou, P. Wilson, D. Henderson, ARIES Team
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 39 | Number 2 | March 2001 | Pages 462-466
Advanced Designs | doi.org/10.13182/FST01-A11963279
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Loss of coolant accident (LOCA) and loss of flow accident (LOFA) analysis is performed for ARIES-AT, an advanced fusion power plant design (1000 MWe). ARIES-AT employs a high performance, high temperature blanket system. It uses the high temperature SiC/SiC for structural material and LiPb for coolant-breeder. Due to the large difference between the time scale of plasma shutdown and the coolant or power loss, it is assumed that the plasma is immediately quenched at the onset of the LOCA/LOFA and the chamber components' temperature begins to rise due to the decay heat generated. A 2-D transient finite element model is established to examine the thermal behavior of the in-vessel components to determine the maximum temperature reached, the time, and duration of the peak. The model is axisymmetric in (r-z) around the reactor axis to show the details of temperature distribution in the vertical direction. The vacuum vessel is assumed adiabatic in the inboard side and radiates to the maintenance port located on the outboard side. The maximum temperature of steel in the reactor is about (600 °C - 700°C) after about 4 days from the onset of the accident. The highest temperature in the reactor is in the divertor region and it reaches ≈1050°C after about 2-3 hours. The analysis indicates that the reactor does not need any special scheme for decay heat removal.
