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U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Development of the cascade inertial-confinement-fusion reactor

Conference ·
OSTI ID:5857746

Cascade, originally conceived as a football-shaped, steel-walled reactor containing a Li/sub 2/O granule blanket, is now envisaged as a double-cone-shaped reactor containing a two-layered (three-zone) flowing blanket of BeO and LiAlO/sub 2/ granules. Average blanket exit temperature is 1670/sup 0/K and gross plant efficiency (net thermal conversion efficiency) using a Brayton cycle is 55%. The reactor has a low-activation SiC-tiled wall. It rotates at 50 rpm, and the granules are transported to the top of the heat exchanger using their peripheral speed; no conveyors or lifts are required. The granules return to the reactor by gravity. After considerable analysis and experimentation, we continue to regard Cascade as a promising reactor concept with the advantages of safety, efficiency, and low activation.

Research Organization:
Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-48
OSTI ID:
5857746
Report Number(s):
UCRL-91589; CONF-850310-86; ON: DE85010933
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English