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Division Spotlight
Fusion Energy
This division promotes the development and timely introduction of fusion energy as a sustainable energy source with favorable economic, environmental, and safety attributes. The division cooperates with other organizations on common issues of multidisciplinary fusion science and technology, conducts professional meetings, and disseminates technical information in support of these goals. Members focus on the assessment and resolution of critical developmental issues for practical fusion energy applications.
Meeting Spotlight
Utility Working Conference and Vendor Technology Expo (UWC 2024)
August 4–7, 2024
Marco Island, FL|JW Marriott Marco Island
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
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Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
ARPA-E announces $40 million to develop transmutation technologies for UNF
The Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) announced $40 million in funding to develop cutting-edge technologies to enable the transmutation of used nuclear fuel into less-radioactive substances. According to ARPA-E, the new initiative addresses one of the agency’s core goals as outlined by Congress: to provide transformative solutions to improve the management, cleanup, and disposal of radioactive waste and spent nuclear fuel.
Yuki Edao, Yasunori Iwai
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 76 | Number 2 | February 2020 | Pages 135-140
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2019.1704572
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
A passive catalytic reactor without heating is required to enhance the safety of a fusion facility. A precious metal catalyst without heating is not suitable to oxidize tritium under conditions of low hydrogen concentration and room temperature. In addition, under a moisture condition, tritium oxidation of a precious metal catalyst drops drastically since moisture adsorbs active sites on the surface of the catalyst. Hence, as a method of tritium oxidation under a moisture condition at room temperature, we have focused on bacterial oxidation of tritium by hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria in natural soil to realize a passive reactor. In this study, we investigated the effect of hydrogen concentration on tritium oxidation by hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria in natural soils to understand the characteristic of tritium oxidation by hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria from the viewpoint of engineering. In our experiment, efficiency of tritium oxidation by a natural soil was obtained at room temperature in the range of hydrogen concentration from 0.5 to 10 000 parts per million (ppm) under a moisture condition. The efficiency of tritium oxidation was the highest at a hydrogen concentration of 0.5 ppm, which equals the value of the hydrogen concentration in air. Our results show that hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria could efficiently oxidize tritium with a low concentration of hydrogen, at room temperature, with high moisture. This showed a tendency opposite to a metal catalyst. A bioreactor using hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria complemented a conventional catalytic reactor using a precious metal catalyst since hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria could oxidize tritium efficiently with a low concentration of hydrogen, at room temperature, with high moisture.