Role of operating pressure in helium-cooled solid-breeder blanket designs

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

OSTI ID:5503567

Misra, B; Billone, M C

A review of the past design studies based on helium both as a heat transfer as well as a power conversion fluid was carried out to assess whether the overall power cycle efficiency can be improved by using coolant pressures significantly higher than those considered in some of the recent blanket design studies. An examination of the operating conditions that were selected for the high-temperature gas-cooled reactors and the gas-cooled fast reactors indicates that the design studies covered a wide spectrum of temperatures (up to 850/sup 0/C) and pressures (up to 115 atm). The power conversion efficiency, however, depends more on the operating temperature than on the operating pressure, irrespective of whether one considers power conversion by direct cycle (via closed cycle gas turbines) or by a binary cycle (via steam turbines). The use of high pressures, which reduces the coolant velocity, leads to minimization of pumping power losses and adverse effects, such as flow-induced vibration, noise, and other motion-dependent phenomena. For the gas-cooled solid breeder blankets, the operating pressure has special significance. A higher operating pressure requiring thicker structures results in a lower breeder volume fraction for a fixed reactor design. This may lead to designs with an unacceptable tritium breeding ratio. The results summarized here are based on some of the above considerations.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL
• OSTI ID: 5503567
• Report Number(s): CONF-860610-; TRN: 88-008127
• Journal Information: Trans. Am. Nucl. Soc.; (United States), Vol. 52; Conference: American Nuclear Society annual meeting, Reno, NV, USA, 15 Jun 1986
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
BREEDING BLANKETS
DESIGN
THERMONUCLEAR REACTOR COOLING SYSTEMS
THERMONUCLEAR REACTORS
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
COOLANTS
EFFICIENCY
FIRST WALL
HEAT TRANSFER
HELIUM
HYDRAULICS
LITHIUM OXIDES
PRESSURE DEPENDENCE
TEMPERATURE DEPENDENCE
THERMAL ANALYSIS
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
CHALCOGENIDES
CONVERSION
COOLING SYSTEMS
ELEMENTS
ENERGY CONVERSION
ENERGY SYSTEMS
ENERGY TRANSFER
FLUID MECHANICS
FLUIDS
GASES
LITHIUM COMPOUNDS
MECHANICS
NONMETALS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
RARE GASES
REACTOR COMPONENTS
THERMONUCLEAR REACTOR WALLS
700201* - Fusion Power Plant Technology- Blanket Engineering
700204 - Fusion Power Plant Technology- Cooling Systems
700207 - Fusion Power Plant Technology- Power Conversion Systems