Managing the fusion burn to improve symbiotic system performance

Conference · Mon Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 1979

OSTI ID:5497001

Renier, J. P.; Martin, J. G.

Symbiotic power systems, in which fissile fuel is produced in fusion-powered factories and burned in thermal reactors characterized by high conversion ratios, constitute an interesting near-term fusion application. It is shown that the economic feasibility of such systems depend on adroit management of the fusion burn. The economics of symbiotes is complex: reprocessing and fabrication of the fusion reactor blankets are important components of the production cost of fissile fuel, but burning fissile material in the breeder blanket raises overall costs and lowers the support ratio. Analyses of factories which assume that the fusion power is constant during an irradiation cycle underestimate their potential. To illustrate the effect of adroit engineering of the fusion burn, this paper analyzes systems based on D-T and semi-catalyzed D-D fusion-powered U-233 breeders. To make the D-T symbiote self-sufficient, tritium is bred in separate lithium blankets designed so as to minimize overall costs. All blankets are assumed to have spherical geometry, with 85% closure. Neutronics depletion calculations were performed with a revised version of the discrete ordinates code XSDRN-PM, using multigroup (100 neutron, 21 gamma-ray groups) coupled cross-section libraries.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA); Lowell Univ., MA (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Magnetic Fusion Energy Division
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 5497001
• Report Number(s): CONF-791102-146; TRN: 80-008300
• Resource Relation: Conference: 8. symposium on engineering problems of fusion research, San Francisco, CA, USA, 13 Nov 1979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
HYBRID REACTORS
BREEDING
BREEDING BLANKETS
BURNUP
COST
DEUTERIUM
ECONOMICS
LITHIUM
NEUTRON TRANSPORT
NUCLEAR FUELS
THORIUM CYCLE
TRITIUM
ALKALI METALS
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
ELEMENTS
ENERGY SOURCES
FUEL CYCLE
FUELS
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
MATERIALS
METALS
NEUTRAL-PARTICLE TRANSPORT
NUCLEAR FUEL CONVERSION
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
RADIATION TRANSPORT
RADIOISOTOPES
REACTOR COMPONENTS
REACTOR MATERIALS
STABLE ISOTOPES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES
700205* - Fusion Power Plant Technology- Fuel
Heating
& Injection Systems