A helium-cooled solid breeder concept for the tritium-producing blanket of the international thermonuclear experimental reactor

Journal Article · Wed Mar 01 00:00:00 EST 1989 · Fusion Technology; (USA)

OSTI ID:5636254

Abdou, M A; Raffray, A R; Gorbis, Z R; Tillack, M S; Watanabe, Y; Ying, A Y; Youssef, M Z ^[1]; Fujimura, K ^[2]

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1. California Univ., Los Angeles, CA (USA). Dept. of Mechanical, Aerospace and Nuclear Engineering
2. Japan Atomic Energy Research Inst., Tokyo (Japan)

The usefulness of the tritium-producing blanket in the International Thermonuclear Experimentall Reactor (ITER) to the fusion research and development program can be maximized by selecting design parameters, features, and options that are reactor relevant without significantly increasing the risk in key areas such as device safety and operational reliability. For that reason, a helium-cooled solid breeder (SB) blanket is proposed since it combines the operation of the SB at high reactor-relevant temperatures with the operation of helium at moderate temperature and pressure to minimize risk. Results of the analysis done for this blanket concept indicate that it is very attractive. It can achieve a high tritium breeding ratio without breeding in the space-limited inboard region, It offers important safety features, including the use of inert gas with no chemical reaction or corrosion, low activation SB, and multiple containment of tritium. the concept provides great operational flexibility to accommodate changes in ITER operating parameters, such as power level, and to optimize the operating temperature of the structure. A novel and practical concept is proposed for the thermal resistance gap between the coolant and SB to allow their operating temperatures to be optimized.

• OSTI ID: 5636254
• Journal Information: Fusion Technology; (USA), Vol. 15:2; ISSN 0748-1896
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
BREEDING BLANKETS
RELIABILITY
HELIUM COOLED REACTORS
REACTOR SAFETY
TRITIUM PRODUCTION REACTORS
BREEDING RATIO
CONTAINMENT
CORROSION
DATA ANALYSIS
DESIGN
EXPERIMENTAL REACTORS
INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
OPERATION
OPTIMIZATION
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
TRITIUM
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CONVERSION RATIO
COOPERATION
GAS COOLED REACTORS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
IRRADIATION REACTORS
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
RADIOISOTOPES
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTORS
RESEARCH AND TEST REACTORS
SAFETY
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
700201* - Fusion Power Plant Technology- Blanket Engineering
700205 - Fusion Power Plant Technology- Fuel
Heating
& Injection Systems