ARC reactor materials: Activation analysis and optimization

Bocci, B.; Hartwig, Zachary; Segantin, Stefano; Testoni, Raffaella; Whyte, D.G.; Zucchetti, Massimo

doi:10.1016/j.fusengdes.2020.111539

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…Nevertheless, the definition of TBE is more suitable to describe the continuous fueling (and exhaust) process in a plasma in equilibrium conditions, and it allows designers to find a tradeoff between FC performance and fusion performance. The implications of equations (10) and (19) are discussed in detail in section 5.2.…”

Section: Understanding Fueling Efficiency (η F ) Burn Fraction (F B )...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, a TBE > 10%-20% would be deleterious for the plant economics. In equations (10) and (19) we showed how TBE depends on f He,core (the helium ash fraction in the core), and, via the dilution factor, how P fus (the fusion power density) depends on f He,core [27]. Equations ( 10) and ( 19) impose a tradeoff between efficient tritium burn and fusion power density.…”

Section: Limitations To the Maximum Tbe In A D-t Fppmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Instead, an outflux equal to the tritium fueling rate is added to the equation describing the storage and management system (see equation (A.11) in the appendix for additional details). Pulsed operation was modeled using a pulse source 10 for the tritium generation in the blanket and channels, for the tritium implanted into the FW and the divertor, and for the tritium exhausted by the vacuum pumps. The pulse width is equal to AF 11 .…”

Section: Computational Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It also provides efficient heat conduction away from the coupled first wall (FW)-VV structure, which is very important at the high power density ARC proposes. Analyses of ARC have been carried out in the fields of materials science [10][11][12], thermal analysis [13][14][15], neutronics [13,[16][17][18], and plasma physics [2,13,19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modeling and analysis of the tritium fuel cycle for ARC- and STEP-class D-T fusion power plants

Meschini,

Ferry,

Delaporte-Mathurin

et al. 2023

Nucl. Fusion

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The limited tritium resources available for the first fusion power plants (FPPs) make fuel self-sufficiency and tritium inventory minimization leading issues in FPP design. This work builds on the model proposed by M. Abdou et al. \cite{abdou2020physics}, which analyzed the fuel cycle of a DEMO-class FPP with a time-dependent system-level model. Here, we use a modified version of their model to analyze the fuel cycle of an ARC-class tokamak and two versions of a STEP-class tokamak. The ARC-class tokamak breeds tritium in a FLiBe liquid immersion blanket (LIB), while the STEP-class tokamak breeds tritium utilizing either a liquid-lithium blanket design or an Encapsulated Breeding Blanket (EBB). A time-dependent system-level model is developed in Matlab Simulink~\textregistered\hspace{.2em} to simulate the evolution of tritium flows and tritium inventories in the fuel cycle. The main goals of this work are to assess tritium self-sufficiency of the ARC- and STEP-class designs and to determine quantitative design requirements that can be used to analyze the adequacy of a proposed fuel cycle system. These design requirements are aimed at achieving a low tritium inventory doubling time ($t_d$) and a low start-up inventory ($I_{\mathrm{startup}}$) while keeping the required tritium breeding ratio (TBR$_r$) as low as possible. We also consider how improvements in fuel cycle technology and plasma operations affect TBR$_r$ and $I_{\mathrm{startup}}$. The model results show that TBR$_r$ for ARC- and STEP-class FPPs should be achievable if the tritium burn efficiency (TBE) reaches 0.5-1\% (TBR$_r <$ 1.2). This assumes significant, but attainable, improvements over current abilities. However, the model results indicate that a FPP must achieve ambitious performance targets, including FPP availability $>$70\%, tritium processing time $<$4~h, and the implementation of direct internal recycling. If future research yields major improvements to achievable TBE, it may be possible to achieve tritium self-sufficiency while operating at lower availability and without implementing DIR.

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Section: Understanding Fueling Efficiency (η F ) Burn Fraction (F B )...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Limitations To the Maximum Tbe In A D-t Fppmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Computational Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Modeling and analysis of the tritium fuel cycle for ARC- and STEP-class D-T fusion power plants

Meschini,

Ferry,

Delaporte-Mathurin

et al. 2023

Nucl. Fusion

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“…This material has the property of high strength and corrosion resistance at high temperatures, but due to the presence of nickel, this material is prone to nuclear activation [16]. Studies indicate that this material can be replaced by Eurofer 97 or V-15Cr-5Ti, which have greater potential use [8,10]. The next layer is a FLiBe blanket with lithium enriched in 90% of 6 Li.…”

Section: Parametersmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Proposal of a Hybrid Fusion-Fission System Based on Arc

Corrêa¹,

Pereira²,

Velasquez³

2023

Anais Da Semana Nacional De Engenharia Nuclear E Da Energia E Ciências Das Radiações

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Studies are being carried out looking for technologies for a compact, robust and affordable reactor that aims to reduce the size, cost, and complexity of a fusion reactor installation. One promising fusion reactor underway at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is the Affordable Robust Compact Reactor (ARC). This reactor uses high-temperature superconductors (HTS), which allow the generation of large magnetic fields on the shaft and therefore reduce its size. The fusion reactor ARC operates using the same deuterium-tritium (DT) fusion reaction of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) reactor, whose neutron energy produces about 14.1 MeV, these neutrons enhance the fission probability in Minor Actinides. The Department of Nuclear Engineering (DEN/UFMG) has been working on studies of hybrid systems based on fusion-fission systems based on ITER with the insertion of a transmutation layer. Therefore, the transmutation layer works in a subcritical state, and it is loaded with reprocessed nuclear fuel including Minor Actinides (MAs), which could increase their probability of inducing transmutation by fission with high-energy neutrons. Therefore, this work aims to investigate the neutron flux variations over the ARC reactor's different components. For this study, three systems have been studied ARC1, ARC2, and ARC3. They were simulated using the Monte Carlo N-Particle Transport eXtended method (MCNPX), the ARC1 represents the original compact reactor model, ARC2 is a single homogenized transmutation layer, and ARC3 considers two fuel layers. The results analyzed the best position for the insertion of a transmutation layer inside ARC1. On the other hand, the models ARC2 and ARC3 made it feasible to understand the variations of the neutron flux after the insertion of the transmutation layer under two different simulations.

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