Tritium control in helium-cooled blankets

Conference · Sat Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1985

OSTI ID:5557199

Wong, C P.C.; Maya, I; Kessel, C; Roelant, D; Schultz, K R

As a part of the Blanket Comparison and Selection Study (BCSS), GA Technologies was responsible for the design of helium-cooled, solid- and liquid-metal breeder blankets. Conceptual blanket designs were developed, including the consideration of the generation, transport, and extraction of tritium. Evaluations were made of the inventory and leakage of tritium for helium-cooled Li/sub 2/O and LiAlO/sub 2/ and liquid lithium breeder blankets for tokamak and tandem mirror reactors. To facilitate the evaluation, a solid breeder tritium code TRIT4 was developed. The results from this study indicate that tritium inventories and leakages are acceptable for the proposed helium-cooled blankets. An assumption made in the tritium leakage calculations was that tritium is released to the helium purge and coolant streams as T/sub 2/ and remains in that form. If oxidation to T/sub 2/O is possible, significant reduction in the tritium leakage will be possible. We conclude that more experimental data on breeder material properties and tritium permeation behavior are needed. However, we are certain that an adequate number of different techniques are available to control the breeder tritium inventory and leakage to an acceptable level in helium-cooled solid- and lithium-breeder blankets.

• Research Organization: GA Technologies, Inc., San Diego, CA (USA); California Univ., Los Angeles (USA); Michigan Univ., Ann Arbor (USA). Dept. of Nuclear Engineering
• DOE Contract Number: AC03-84ER53158
• OSTI ID: 5557199
• Report Number(s): GA-A-17940; CONF-850405-16; ON: DE85014783
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700201* -- Fusion Power Plant Technology-- Blanket Engineering
ALKALI METAL COMPOUNDS
ALUMINIUM COMPOUNDS
ALUMINIUM OXIDES
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BREEDING BLANKETS
CERAMICS
CHALCOGENIDES
COMPARATIVE EVALUATIONS
COOLANTS
ELEMENTS
FLUIDS
GASES
HELIUM
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
INVENTORIES
ISOTOPES
LEAKS
LIGHT NUCLEI
LIQUID METALS
LIQUIDS
LITHIUM COMPOUNDS
LITHIUM OXIDES
METALS
NONMETALS
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PERFORMANCE TESTING
RADIOISOTOPES
RARE GASES
REACTOR COMPONENTS
TESTING
TRITIUM
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES