MAROKO133 Eksklusif ai: US to convert retired coal mine into 350-megawatt nuclear fusion p

📌 MAROKO133 Breaking ai: US to convert retired coal mine into 350-megawatt nuclear

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) recently announced that it has issued a Letter of Intent (LOI) to the nuclear fusion company Type One Energy. 

The agreement concerns the potential development of a commercial fusion power plant at the site of the decommissioned Bull Run Fossil Plant near Knoxville, Tennessee.

The proposal focuses on Type One Energy’s Infinity Two power plant design, a 350 megawatt-electric (350 MWe) facility intended to provide baseload power to the grid. The companies are aiming to have the pilot fusion plant operational by the mid-2030s.

Utilizing stellarator fusion technology

The Infinity Two plant is designed to utilize stellarator fusion technology. Unlike the more widely known tokamak design, which uses a toroidal, or doughnut-shaped, chamber, a stellarator employs a complex, twisted magnetic field in a non-symmetrical configuration to contain the superheated plasma necessary for fusion. 

This approach gets around certain plasma confinement challenges faced by tokamaks, which arise from variations in magnetic coil density around the toroidal ring.

In its announcement, TVA noted that the stellarator is currently the only fusion technology to have demonstrated stable, steady-state operation with high efficiency. 

These characteristics are crucial for a power source intended to provide reliable, on-demand electricity at a competitive price. 

“Type One Energy is developing Infinity Two using today’s existing materials and fundamental fusion technologies to support near-term deployment of the technology,” highlighted the fusion company.

Selecting Bull Run site is notable

As a former fossil fuel plant, the location already possesses critical infrastructure, including high-capacity grid connections and access to cooling water from the Clinch River. 

“I am excited about the possibility of the first US commercial stellarator fusion power plant being built in the Tennessee Valley,” remarked Don Moul, TVA President and CEO.

Repurposing such sites is an increasingly common strategy in the energy sector for transitioning to new power sources. 

For a large utility like TVA, the exploration of fusion is part of a long-term strategy to identify reliable, on-demand, and non-emitting power sources that can operate alongside intermittent renewables like solar and wind.

Expansion of the previous contract

Earlier this year, TVA and Type One Energy signed a cooperative agreement to develop initial plans jointly. This was followed in July by the first set of commercial contracts under an initiative called “Project Infinity.” 

As part of these contracts, TVA’s Power Service Shops in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, are assisting in the development of tailored welding and fabrication techniques for a smaller stellarator testbed known as Infinity One. The manufacturing and construction methods developed for this prototype will then be applied to the building of the full-scale Infinity Two plant.

Beyond construction and power generation, the partnership also addresses the potential future use of the prototype facilities as a center for workforce training, preparing the specialized technicians and operators needed for the commercial fusion industry.

“This LOI with TVA, and the role it establishes for Type One Energy as the fusion technology provider for their Infinity Two project, is therefore fully aligned with our goal of pursuing the lowest-risk approach to commercializing fusion energy,” concluded Christofer Mowry, Type One Energy’s CEO.

🔗 Sumber: interestingengineering.com

📌 MAROKO133 Breaking ai: US to develop resilient material for jet engines that eat

The US National Science Foundation has awarded a $2 million grant to a team of engineers led by Lehigh University to tackle one of the biggest obstacles to deploying a new class of rocket engines that could transform access to space, the university said in a press release on September 23.

The project, “Thriving While Detonating – Materials for Extreme Dynamic Thermomechanical Performance,” will focus on developing a rotating detonation engine (RDE). 

RDE is a propulsion system that promises higher power, greater fuel efficiency, and lower emissions than conventional rocket or jet engines. 

The grant is part of NSF’s Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF) program, which funds collaborative research to accelerate the discovery of advanced materials.

Shockwave propulsion

The RDE generates thrust by sustaining a circulating detonation wave inside an annular, or ring-shaped, chamber. 

That wave travels at thousands of meters per second, supersonic speeds, and releases far more energy than the slower combustion typical of current engines. 

By harnessing this fast-moving shock front, RDEs could achieve much higher thrust-to-weight ratios and more compact designs, enabling satellites to be delivered to precise orbits more affordably and with less fuel.

However, the extreme temperatures and pressures produced by the rotating detonation wave have proved devastating to existing engine materials. 

Current tests show metal components failing after only a few engine cycles. RDEs cannot progress from laboratory prototypes to operational launch systems without materials that can withstand the punishing loads.

“This is an exciting opportunity to identify breakthrough materials capabilities that may spur advancements in propulsion systems of the future,” said Natasha Vermaak, an associate professor of mechanical engineering and mechanics at Lehigh who is leading the effort. 

“The RDE offers transformative performance, but only if we solve the materials challenge.”

Vermaak’s team includes Mohadeseh Taheri-Mousavi of Carnegie Mellon University and Daniel Mumm, Lorenzo Valdevit, and Xian Shi of the University of California, Irvine. 

The group is also collaborating with the Air Force Research Laboratory and industry partners to accelerate the transition of their findings to aerospace applications.

Rotating detonations

The researchers plan to use an integrated approach combining experiments, computer simulations, and AI-driven materials design to develop high-performance copper-based alloys for RDE components. 

They will test how changes in composition and microstructure affect damage and failure mechanisms under the engine’s high-frequency, high-amplitude thermomechanical loads.

A key part of the project will be building a miniaturized rotating detonation engine testing platform, the first of its kind, to screen candidate materials rapidly under realistic operating conditions. 

The team plans to create “regime maps” that show how different alloys react to extreme cyclic stresses. This information could help design various propulsion and power generation materials.

The DMREF program is NSF’s flagship response to the federal Materials Genome Initiative, which seeks to discover, develop, and deploy new materials twice as fast and at a fraction of the traditional cost. 

Since 2012, DMREF has funded interdisciplinary projects integrating computation, data science, and experimentation to address major societal challenges.

By tackling the materials barrier, the Lehigh-led team hopes to move rotating detonation engines closer to real-world deployment. 

The technology could lower launch costs, reduce emissions, and open new opportunities across the rapidly expanding US space economy, the same infrastructure that supports GPS navigation, weather forecasting, rapid package delivery, and other services.

“If successful, our work will not only advance copper-based alloys but also provide transferable principles for designing structural alloys for any extreme aerospace environment,” Vermaak said.

The grant also includes outreach initiatives to undergraduate and K-12 students to help train the next generation of engineers for the high-performance propulsion systems of the future.

🔗 Sumber: interestingengineering.com