A study of thermal hydraulic and kinetic phenomena in HYLIFE-II: An inertial confinement fusion reactor

Technical Report · Wed Jan 27 04:00:00 EST 1993

OSTI ID:6700467

Chen, Xiang Ming

Researchers have studied the different aspects of commercial fusion energy for several decades. A variety of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) reactors have been proposed. Different from the magnetic confinement fusion concept, inertial confinement fusion does not need long-term confinement of the fusion fuel but achieves fusion reaction in a short microexplosion under a high density, high temperature condition.The HYLIFE-II reactor design started in 1987 based on the study of previous concept called HYLIFE (High Yield Lithium Injection Fusion Energy). Similar to the old concept, the HYLIFE-II design uses a vacuum chamber in which D-T fusion pellets are injected and ignited by high energy beams shot into the reactor through different ports. The reactor vessel is protected from explosion radiations by a liquid fall (blanket)that also breeds tritium through the (n,[alpha]) reaction of lithium and conveys the fusion energy to the power cycle. In addition to some geometric chances, the new design replaces liquid metal lithium with the molten salt Flibe (Li[sub 2]BeF[sub 4]) as the protective blanket material. The objective was to remove the possibility of fire hazard. The important thermal hydraulic issues in the design are (1) equation ofstate of Flibe; (2) liquid relaxation after isochoric (constant volume) heating; (3) ablation and gas dynamics; (4) interaction of the vapor and liquid; and (5) condensation of the vaporized material. The firstfour issues have to do with the internal relaxation after the fusion microexplosion in the chamber. Vaporized material, as well as liquid, may assert strong impulses on the chamber wall during, the process of relaxing after absorbing the energy from the microexplosion. Item (5) is related to the rapid vacuum recovery between the ignitions. This dissertation studies some aspects of the first four issues.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: DOE; USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 6700467
• Report Number(s): UCRL-ID-112698; ON: DE93008372
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700330 -- Plasma Kinetics
Transport
& Impurities-- (1992-)
700411* -- Inertial Confinement Devices-- (1992-)
ABLATION
BREEDING BLANKETS
CHEMICAL REACTION KINETICS
CONFINEMENT
D-T REACTORS
ENERGY TRANSFER
EQUATIONS
EQUATIONS OF STATE
FLIBE
FLUID MECHANICS
HEAT TRANSFER
HYDRAULICS
HYLIFE CONVERTER
INERTIAL CONFINEMENT
INSTABILITY
KINETICS
LASER FUSION REACTORS
MECHANICS
MOLTEN SALTS
PLASMA CONFINEMENT
RADIATION TRANSPORT
RAYLEIGH-TAYLOR INSTABILITY
REACTION KINETICS
REACTOR COMPONENTS
SALTS
THERMONUCLEAR REACTORS