A cutting-edge project to test “fusion blanket” technologies is taking shape, with the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) leading the charge to create a critical component of a fusion reactor.
This work is part of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) $107 million funding award to six research centers called . INL will lead one of the centers and contribute research for two others.
The collaboratives aim to develop an operational fuel cycle within a decade and innovate solutions for commercial fusion plants to secure a resilient, reliable source of energy.
“For 30 years, INL’s focused on safety evaluations and experiments,” said Patrick Calderoni, fusion program lead. “Now we are going to leverage INL expertise in the design and implementation of complex test rigs for neutron testing in the Advanced Test Reactor, one of the most powerful test reactors in operation worldwide.”
The INL-led center, Accelerating Fusion Blanket Development through Nuclear Testing (BNT), involves five national laboratories, four universities and numerous private companies. One of the companies, , will provide engineering and advanced computer models.
“This funding propels two critical components forward that will help carry us closer to achieving a fully operational fusion power plant in the United States,” said Wayne Solomon, vice president of Magnetic Fusion Energy for General Atomics.
will also collaborate with INL to develop and design the blanket technology to ensure commercial relevance.
“Fusion blankets are pivotal to delivering limitless fusion energy to the grid,” said Aaron Washington, a Tokamak representative. “We’re now focused on helping INL and DOE ensure their testing is relevant to private companies as part of a fusion energy future.”
What is a fusion blanket?
INL is the nation’s nuclear energy lab, largely focused on fission – which is the splitting of a large atom to release energy. That is what happens in all nuclear power plants that produce electricity.
Fusion, on the other hand, combines two of the smallest atoms. It requires special hydrogen atoms called deuterium (which has one neutron) and tritium (which has two neutrons). Fusing them together generates a tremendous amount of energy, the same reaction that occurs inside the sun.
“A fusion blanket is the nuclear part of a fusion reactor,” said Chase Taylor, INL senior scientist who is leading irradiation testing in the collaborative. Its job is to capture the energy and particles produced during the fusion reaction. Fusion blankets play three important roles: They create new fuel for the reactor, convert fusion power into heat for generating electricity and protect the reactor’s powerful magnets.
The team will test portions of a blanket system in fission reactors to see how they perform in a nuclear environment.
“This helps the fusion energy industry by providing a way to test these materials in real-life conditions quickly,” Calderoni said.
“The lack of fusion neutrons (the particles produced by fusion reactors available for testing) has stalled progress in developing necessary technologies for fusion reactors,” Taylor said. “However, we can meet most of the fusion industry’s nuclear testing requirements using our nation’s leading fission research reactors.”
Advancing fusion capabilities
In addition to leading the nuclear blanket collaborative, INL is contributing to the team charged with developing, designing and manufacturing fusion energy materials. Led by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, the FIRE collaborative’s Integrated Materials Program to Accelerate Chamber Technologies team aims to transform the design and manufacturing of high-performance materials for fusion energy systems.
“Robust materials that can handle extreme environments are critical for the deployment of fusion systems,” said Grace Burke, an INL fellow. “I look forward to working with my excellent colleagues in this exciting materials development program leveraging my expertise in steels and microstructural aspects of irradiation damage and environment-sensitive degradation.”
INL also will provide modeling and simulation support for a Savannah River National Laboratory-led team tasked with enhancing fusion fuel-cycle technology development capabilities.
The fusion reactor needs special fuel to create energy, like a car needs gasoline. The fusion fuel cycle is the process of making, using and recycling that special fuel – which includes the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium. The challenges include making sure there’s enough tritium, handling the waste safely, and ensuring the reactor materials stay strong and efficient.
INL experts will use the lab’s -based open-source modeling codes and the high-performance computing power of INL’s Bitterroot, Sawtooth and Hoodoo supercomputers to contribute to this effort.
“Establishing a robust fuel cycle is critical for commercial fusion energy production, but there are still significant challenges to address,” said Casey Icenhour, computational scientist. “The collaborative intends to address these challenges through fuel cycle process modeling and cutting-edge technology development. They’ll also seek solutions for handling byproduct materials and growing the fuel cycle workforce of the future.”
Strategic collaborations and the milestone program
Fusion energy start-up companies are pushing for faster development timelines, which has changed the dynamic of the conversation around fusion energy, Calderoni said. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will not regulate fusion reactors like fission reactors which reduces the regulatory requirements for fusion reactor licensees.
For many years, fusion scientists have wanted a facility to test blanket components, but building such a facility would be expensive and take years. This collaborative will speed deployment by using fission reactors to produce useful results for private fusion companies in a period compatible with their accelerated timelines, Taylor said.
“Many industries need short-term demonstrations, and now they have a path. They can use (the) BNT-established process for testing in fission material test reactors to advance the maturity of their technologies, potentially avoiding the need for extensive prescriptive testing,” Calderoni said.
Several privately funded fusion companies have completed early critical-path science and technology milestones in the Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program which awards contracts to private companies for fusion plant design efforts. This program and FIRE are administered by DOE’s Fusion Energy Sciences within the Office of Science.
“Fusion energy has the potential to solidify America’s leadership in the global energy landscape,” said Calderoni. “By advancing fusion technologies, we are reinforcing our nation’s energy independence and dominance in innovative energy solutions.”
About FIRE
The DOE launched the FIRE collaboratives initiative last year to establish networks that bridge the gap between fusion research and industry. These collaboratives bring together teams from government facilities, academia and industry to address technical challenges on the path to commercial fusion development. These fusion science and technology ecosystems will facilitate the work necessary to accelerate nuclear fusion research and development in line with .
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