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Title: Radiation damage and waste management options for the SOMBRERO final focus system and neutron dumps

Conference ·
OSTI ID:14330

Previous studies of the safety and environmental aspects of the SOMBRERO inertial fusion energy (IFE) power plant design did not completely address the issues associated with the final focus system. While past work calculated neutron fluences for a grazing incidence metal mirror (GIMM) and a final focus mirror, scattering off of the final optical component was not included, and thus, fluences in the final focus mirror were significantly underestimated. In addition, past work did not consider neutron-induced gamma-rays. Finally, power plant lifetime waste volumes may have been underestimated as neutron activation of the neutron dumps and building structure were not addressed. In the present work, a modified version of the SOMBRERO target building is presented where a significantly larger open solid-angle fraction (5%) is used to enhance beam smoothing of a diode-pumped solid-state laser (DPSSL). The GIMMs are replaced with transmissive fused silica wedges and have been included in three -dimensional neutron and photon transport calculations. This work shows that a power plant with a large open solid-angle fraction, needed for beam smoothing with a DPSSL, is acceptable from tritium breeding, and neutron activation points-of-view.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Research (ER) (US)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
14330
Report Number(s):
UCRL-JC-134829; AT5015032; AT5015032; TRN: US0111000
Resource Relation:
Conference: First International Conference on Inertial Fusion Sciences and Applications (IFSA), Bordeaux (FR), 09/12/1999--09/17/1999; Other Information: PBD: 9 Aug 1999
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English