Breeding potential of candidate breeders for the U.S. Demo power plant

Conference · Sun Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1995

OSTI ID:464989

El-Guebaly, L A ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States). Fusion Technology Inst.

The US Demo will utilize either liquid metal (LM) or solid breeder (SB) for tritium breeding. A prime goal for the breeder is to provide tritium self-sufficiency that ensures the self-sustaining operation of the Demo plant. Neutronics analysis have been performed for 20 breeders to examine their ability to breed tritium and multiply the neutron energy. A few promising LM (Li and Li{sub 17}Pb{sub 83}) and SB (Li{sub 2}O and Li{sub 2}TiO{sub 3}) were selected for further analysis to illustrate the impact on breeding of the candidate low activation structures (V, SiC, and FS) and neutron multipliers (Be, Be{sub 2}C, BeO, and Pb). Among the various breeders considered in the analysis, lithium provides the highest breeding followed by lithium lead, than Li{sub 2}O. The study has concluded that Li and Li{sub 17}Pb{sub 83} have the potential for tritium self-sufficiency without a neutron multiplier. Solid breeders will most likely require a neutron multiplier to achieve net breeding in realistic designs. All structures degrade the breeding and enhance the energy multiplication, except SiC which degrades both. Vanadium has the least impact on the breeding of LM and SB, followed by FS and SiC, except for Li{sub 17}Pb{sub 83}. All multipliers significantly enhance the SB breeding, except BeO, and the SB energy multiplication, except Pb. Besides neutronics performance, other features of LM and SB will be key factors in selecting the Demo materials.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• OSTI ID: 464989
• Report Number(s): CONF-950905--; ISBN 0-7803-2969-4
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
BREEDING
BREEDING BLANKETS
DEMONSTRATION PLANTS
NEUTRON TRANSPORT
PERFORMANCE
THERMONUCLEAR POWER PLANTS
THERMONUCLEAR REACTOR MATERIALS
TOKAMAK TYPE REACTORS
TRITIUM