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Title: Helium cooled Flibe blanket

Abstract

The blanket design uses a pressure vessel to contain the 50 atmosphere helium gas. Helium cools the first wall and blanket internals. The internals consist of a bed of beryllium balls nominally 1 cm diameter in which neutrons are multiplied and later captured, breeding adequate (even excess) amounts of tritium and releasing energy in exothermic nuclear reactions. Tritium is bred in the molten flibe salt which flows slowly (0.1m/sec) in steel tubes. The salt is kept reducing by periodic reacting with beryllium so the tritium will be in the T/sub 2/ form, however with somewhat enhanced corrosion rate the salt could be kept oxidizing in which case the tritium would be in the TF form. To prevent the tritium from permitting too much into the helium stream, a tungsten coating on the inside of the tubes is proposed. Tritium is removed from the salt and helium by processing both. Because the solubility of tritium in Flibe is so low, there will be a strong driving force for tritium permeation and this places a great burden on a high integrity tungsten permeation barrier. The tritium in the helium is prevented from permeating excessively into the steam system by jacketing the steelmore » steam generator tubes with a 1 mm aluminum jacket. Clearly, tritium containment and barrier development are the most important feasibility issues for this design.« less

Authors:
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
OSTI Identifier:
5628526
Report Number(s):
UCID-20230
ON: DE86010859
DOE Contract Number:  
W-7405-ENG-48
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; BREEDING BLANKETS; DESIGN; BERYLLIUM; COOLANTS; FLIBE; HELIUM; PERMEABILITY; TRITIUM; ALKALINE EARTH METALS; BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES; BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES; ELEMENTS; FLUIDS; GASES; HYDROGEN ISOTOPES; ISOTOPES; LIGHT NUCLEI; METALS; MOLTEN SALTS; NONMETALS; NUCLEI; ODD-EVEN NUCLEI; RADIOISOTOPES; RARE GASES; REACTOR COMPONENTS; SALTS; YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES; 700201* - Fusion Power Plant Technology- Blanket Engineering

Citation Formats

Moir, R. Helium cooled Flibe blanket. United States: N. p., 1984. Web. doi:10.2172/5628526.
Moir, R. Helium cooled Flibe blanket. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/5628526
Moir, R. 1984. "Helium cooled Flibe blanket". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/5628526. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/5628526.
@article{osti_5628526,
title = {Helium cooled Flibe blanket},
author = {Moir, R},
abstractNote = {The blanket design uses a pressure vessel to contain the 50 atmosphere helium gas. Helium cools the first wall and blanket internals. The internals consist of a bed of beryllium balls nominally 1 cm diameter in which neutrons are multiplied and later captured, breeding adequate (even excess) amounts of tritium and releasing energy in exothermic nuclear reactions. Tritium is bred in the molten flibe salt which flows slowly (0.1m/sec) in steel tubes. The salt is kept reducing by periodic reacting with beryllium so the tritium will be in the T/sub 2/ form, however with somewhat enhanced corrosion rate the salt could be kept oxidizing in which case the tritium would be in the TF form. To prevent the tritium from permitting too much into the helium stream, a tungsten coating on the inside of the tubes is proposed. Tritium is removed from the salt and helium by processing both. Because the solubility of tritium in Flibe is so low, there will be a strong driving force for tritium permeation and this places a great burden on a high integrity tungsten permeation barrier. The tritium in the helium is prevented from permeating excessively into the steam system by jacketing the steel steam generator tubes with a 1 mm aluminum jacket. Clearly, tritium containment and barrier development are the most important feasibility issues for this design.},
doi = {10.2172/5628526},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/5628526}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1984},
month = {Mon Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1984}
}