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Fusion research: ORNL chosen for plasma materials experiment facility

Posted at 6:29 pm March 1, 2020
By John Huotari Leave a Comment

Scientists use a laser to align the plasma created at the Proto-MPEX (Materials Plasma Exposure Experiment) machine at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. (Photo credit: Ted Biewer/ORNL, U.S. Department of Energy)

Oak Ridge National Laboratory has been chosen as the site of an experimental facility to test materials that would withstand the harsh conditions of the plasmas created in fusion devices, which, researchers hope, could eventually provide carbon-free energy to people around the world.

The proposed facility, the Materials Plasma Exposure Experiment facility, or MPEX, has an estimated cost range between $87 million and $175 million. It would be in an existing facility in an area at ORNL known as the Energy Systems Test Complex.

Fusion devices would use the same reactions that power the sun. Temperatures inside a fusion reactor could reach millions of degrees.

Scientists are studying materials that could withstand the conditions inside fusion reactors by exposing them to prototypical plasma conditions. Plasma, the heated matter created in a fusion device, has high-energy neutrons, electrons, and ions. MPEX would study materials that face the plasma. Finding materials capable of withstanding the harsh environment remains a major hurdle to using fusion to produce energy.

A critical decision for the MPEX facility was completed in early February by the U.S. Department of Energy. ORNL is a DOE Office of Science lab. The critical decision, CD-1, is the second step in the five-step process that DOE uses to manage projects. The CD-1 decision included an alternative selection and a cost range.

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, ORNL, Science, Slider, U.S. Department of Energy Tagged With: DOE, fusion, fusion experiment, fusion materials, fusion plasma, fusion power, fusion reactor, International Tokamak Experimental Reasctor, ITER, Juergen Rapp, Materials Plasma eXposure Experiment, MPEX, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Office of Science, ORNL, plasma, Proto-MPEX, U.S. Department of Energy

Chief engineer for U.S. ITER at ORNL to give project overview on Tuesday

Posted at 9:21 am March 10, 2014
By Oak Ridge Today Staff Leave a Comment

Brad Nelson

Brad Nelson

The chief engineer for the U.S. ITER Project at Oak Ridge National Laboratory will give a project overview on Tuesday.

Brad Nelson is the chief engineer for the U.S. International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor Project. His Tuesday talk will be the first in a series of three presentations on the U.S. ITER project to Friends of ORNL, with Hans Vogel speaking on April 8 and Graeme Murdoch speaking on May 13.

The New Yorker published a story on ITER in its March 3 edition titled “A Star in a Bottle” by Raffi Khatchadourian.

Nelson’s Tuesday presentation during a Friends of ORNL luncheon lecture starts at noon at the University of Tennessee Resource Center in Oak Ridge. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Community, Front Page News, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Science Tagged With: A Star in a Bottle, Brad Nelson, Cadarache, China, European Union, France, Friends of ORNL, fusion, fusion device, fusion power, Graeme Murdoch, Hans Vogel, hardware, India, International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, ITER, Japan, Korea, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Office of Science, ORNL, Raffi Khatchadourian, Russia, The New Yorker, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. ITER, United States, University of Tennessee Resource Center

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Classifieds

Public notice: Draft environmental assessment for Y-12 Development Organization at Horizon Center

AVAILABILITY OF THE DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE OFFSITE HOUSING OF THE Y-12 DEVELOPMENT … [Read More...]

Public Notice: Final environmental assessment available for Lithium Processing Facility at Y-12

AVAILABILITY OF THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE LITHIUM PROCESSING FACILITY AT THE Y-12 … [Read More...]

Public Notice: Comment period extended for Draft EA for Lithium Processing Facility at Y-12

EXTENSION OF THE COMMENT PERIOD FOR THE DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR THE LITHIUM PROCESSING … [Read More...]

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