Integrated simulation for the preconceptual optioneering of the STEP breeder blanket design

Merriman, Sam; Abraham, Jeevan; Bailey, James E.; Billingsley, John; Edwards, Bruce S.; Hagues, James; Hernández, Daniel León; Mantel, N.; Otway, Nicholas M.; Saigiridhari, Anurag; Sherwood, Saskia; Ting, Priscilla; Fradera, J.; Andrés, Paúl; Bernad, Andreu; Catalán, David; Haouala, Sara; Sádaba, S.; Echeveste, B.; Ha, S.

doi:10.1016/j.fusengdes.2023.113423

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 10 publications

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“…A pre-conceptual design of the breeding blanket has been proposed by Fradera et al (2021) exploiting molten FLiBe (LiF-BeF 2 ) encapsulated in pebbles packed together to form multiple breeder units. Other blanket concepts might be under investigation, and a UKAEA team recently published a tool for preconceptual optioneering of STEP breeding blanket (Merriman et al, 2023). STEP roadmap can be divided in three stages (Wilson et al, 2020): develop an integrated conceptual design for SPR (2019-2024); develop the engineering design of SPR (2024-2032); construction and commissioning of SPR to deliver electricity (2032-2040).…”

Section: Tokamak Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of commercial nuclear fusion projects

Meschini,

Laviano,

Ledda

et al. 2023

Front. Energy Res.

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Nuclear fusion technologies have re-gained momentum in the last decade thanks to their disruptive potential in different fields, such as energy production and space propulsion, and to new technological developments, especially high temperature superconductor tapes, which allow overcoming previous performance or design limits. To date, reviews of recent nuclear fusion designs are lacking. Therefore, this paper aims at giving a comprehensive overview of nuclear fusion concepts for industrial applications with a focus on the private sector. The designs are classified according to the three leading concepts for plasma confinement, namely, magnetic confinement, inertial confinement and magneto-inertial confinement. The working principles of the main devices are described in detail to highlight strengths and weaknesses of the different designs. The importance of the public sector on private projects is discussed. The technological maturity is estimated, and the main criticalities for each project are identified. Finally, the geographical distribution of the companies (or public institutions) pursuing the design of fusion devices for commercial applications is reported.

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Section: Tokamak Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of commercial nuclear fusion projects

Meschini,

Laviano,

Ledda

et al. 2023

Front. Energy Res.

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Fusing together an outline design for sustained fuelling and tritium self-sufficiency

Lord,

Bennett,

Harrington

et al. 2024

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A.

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Ensuring tritium fuel self-sufficiency while maintaining continuous and high-specification fuel flow to the tokamak via a low tritium inventory and controllable fuel cycle is a significant challenge to the STEP plant design. Effective and high-quality fuelling and exhaust design is required to sustain and control a stable plasma, whereas fuel sufficiency is required to prevent depletion of available tritium supply. Concerns regarding the lack of tritium availability preventing continuous tritium import are countered by breeding, where highly energetic neutrons from the core fusion reactions interact with lithium atoms suspended in the surrounding breeder blanket to produce tritium. The compact nature of STEP prohibits the integration of inboard breeder blankets posing a significant challenge for the design team looking to ensure more tritium is bred and made available than consumed within the core plasma. This paper outlines how purposeful technology selection and system architecting has converged on the outline of a conceivable and tritium-capable fuel cycle and breeder blanket design. Before introducing the STEP fuel cycle design outline and summarizing the approach undertaken to address the challenges facing plasma fuelling, key aspects of fuel self-sufficiency are discussed. This includes discussing a proposed helium-cooled liquid lithium breeder blanket and possible technology options for tritium extraction from lithium. Lastly, there is a brief process modelling overview, which emphasizes the central contribution of various employed modelling methods. Reflections on the presented fuel cycle design outline conclude that substantial development work is still required to realize a continuous tritium fuel cycle design and overcome the major challenges posed by tritium and lithium handling. Reflections on the presented breeder blanket design proposal conclude that while many substantial risks and blockers remain to achieve fuel self-sufficiency, high breeding ratios are expected to be achievable with a compact spherical tokamak configuration. Nonetheless, it is recognized that further consideration is required to ensure that the selection of liquid lithium as a breeder medium provides the overall simplest route to a self-sufficient and realizable design. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Delivering Fusion Energy – The Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP)’ .

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Integrated simulation for the preconceptual optioneering of the STEP breeder blanket design

Cited by 2 publications

References 10 publications

Review of commercial nuclear fusion projects

Review of commercial nuclear fusion projects

Fusing together an outline design for sustained fuelling and tritium self-sufficiency

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