The behaviour of a tungsten first wall is studied under the irradiation conditions predicted for the different operational scenarios of the European laser fusion project HiPER, which is based on direct drive targets and an evacuated dry wall chamber. The scenarios correspond to different stages in the development of a nuclear fusion reactor, from proof of principle (bunch mode facility) to economic feasibility (pre-commercial power plant). This work constitutes a quantitative study to evaluate first wall performance under realistic irradiation conditions in the different scenarios. We calculated the radiation fluxes assuming the geometrical configurations reported so far for HiPER. Then, we calculated the irradiation-induced evolution of first wall temperature and the thermomechanical response of the material. The results indicate that the first wall will plastically deform up to a few microns underneath the surface. Continuous operation in a power plant leads to fatigue failure with crack generation and growth. Finally, crack propagation and the minimum tungsten thickness required to fulfil the first wall protection role is studied. The response of tungsten as a first wall material as well as its main limitations will be discussed for the HiPER scenarios.
The European laser fusion project HiPER is developing technologically feasible components for a laser fusion power plant with an evacuated dry wall chamber which is likely to operate with a shock ignition scheme and direct targets. One of the key components is the final optics. In this work, we consider silica transmission final lenses and address the major issues regarding the unavoidable neutron irradiation they must withstand. For pre-commercial power plants (150 MJ target yield at 10 Hz) a distance of 16 m between the final lenses and target leads to maximum lens temperatures within tolerable limits. However, a non-uniform steady-state temperature profile is a major concern because it is the origin of unacceptable aberrations that severely affect the target spots. We have devised an active intervention system based on a heat-transfer fluid to keep the temperature profile as smooth as possible. The main characteristics of the temperature control system are defined throughout this work and enable the operation of the plant, both for the start-up procedure and for normal operation.
a b s t r a c tIon irradiation on dielectric materials produces several processes, such ionization and defect formation followed by a decay governed by thermal processes such as heat diffusion and atomic rearrangement. Finally in the irradiated region the mechanical properties are altered, strain and stress fields appear, a densification takes places and other properties such as the refractive index are affected.In order to simulate the mechanical response of silica to swift ion irradiation we use a methodology based on molecular dynamics (MD) and finite element methods (FEM). We use information from MD to obtain the local densification generated by an incoming swift ion. Finally we calculate the densification in the ion track using FEM. This method provides information on the strain and stress field along the material as a function of ion irradiation fluence.For this work an experimental campaign using Br ions from 5 to 50 MeV has been done at CMAM accelerator (Madrid). We measured the refractive index and we observe that for high fluences the refractive index decreases. The effect of the strain field on the density could explain the decrease in the refractive index. We check this hypothesis using our methodology coupling MD and FEM.
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