Trade-off study of liquid-metal self-cooled blankets

Conference · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1986 · Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States)

OSTI ID:5502697

Gohar, Y

A trade-off study of liquid-metal self-cooled blankets was carried out to define the performance of these blankets with respect to the main functions in a fusion reactor, and to determine the potential to operate at the maximum possible values of the performance parameters. The main purpose is to improve the reactor economics by maximizing the blanket energy multiplication factor, reduce the capital cost of the reactor, and satisfy the design requirements. The main parameters during the course of the study were the tritium breeding ratio (TBR), the blanket energy multiplication factor, the energy fraction lost to the shield, the /sup 6/Li enrichment in the breeder material, the total blanket thickness, the reflector material selection, and the compositions of the different blanket zones. Also, the impact of different reactor design choices on the performance parameters was analyzed. The effect of the impurity control system (limiter or divertor), the material choice for the limiter, the elimination of tritium breeding from the inboard section of tokamak reactors, the coolant choice for the nonbreeding inboard blanket, and the neutron source distribution were part of the trade-off study. In addition, tritium breeding benchmark calculations were performed to study the impact of the use of different transport codes and nuclear data libraries. The importance and the negative effect of high TBR on the energy multiplication motivated the benchmark calculations.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL
• OSTI ID: 5502697
• Report Number(s): CONF-860610-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States) Journal Volume: 52
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700208* -- Fusion Power Plant Technology-- Inertial Confinement Technology
ALKALI METAL ISOTOPES
BARYON REACTIONS
BREEDING BLANKETS
BREEDING RATIO
COMPUTER CODES
CONVERSION RATIO
COOLANTS
DESIGN
DIVERTORS
HADRON REACTIONS
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
LIMITERS
LITHIUM 6
LITHIUM ISOTOPES
MULTIPLICATION FACTORS
NEUTRAL-PARTICLE TRANSPORT
NEUTRON REACTIONS
NEUTRON TRANSPORT
NUCLEAR REACTIONS
NUCLEI
NUCLEON REACTIONS
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
PERFORMANCE
RADIATION TRANSPORT
REACTOR COMPONENTS
SHIELDS
STABLE ISOTOPES
THERMONUCLEAR REACTORS