Neutronics Assessment of Blanket Options for the HAPL Laser Inertial Fusion Energy Chamber

Sawan, M.E.; Sviatoslavsky, I.N.; Raffray, A.R.; Wang, X.

doi:10.1109/fusion.2005.252904

Cited by 5 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 10 publications

(10 reference statements)

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“…As shown in Fig. 2, there are several combinations of breeder thickness and 6 Li enrichment leading to this TBR. We select for study the two extreme trends, thin blanket with high enrichment (50 cm, 70 at.% enrichment) and thick blanket with low enrichment (75 cm, 25 at.% enrichment), for a deeper study and comparison.…”

Section: Neutronics and Activationmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…It is decoupled into three physically independent components, as shown in the The decoupling approach has been followed in recent dry wall IFE reaction chamber designs, such as LIFE [5], HAPL [6]. It presents multiple advantages, such as specialization of components and independent maintenance schemes.…”

Section: Preliminary Reaction Chamber For Hiper Reactormentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There are multiple combinations of breeder thickness and 6 Li enrichment in the 15.8 Li at.% of eutectic LiPb which guarantee a TBR = 1.1, which is a design objective for HiPER reactor. We select for study in this paper the two trends: thin blanket with high 6 Li enrichment and thick blanket with low 6 Li enrichment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We select for study in this paper the two trends: thin blanket with high 6 Li enrichment and thick blanket with low 6 Li enrichment. For these blanket options, we compute the energy amplification factor and the TBR range as a function of the 6 Li enrichment, for flexible operation, remarked as mandatory in [2].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The blanket thickness has impact not only on in the 6 Li enrichment and blanket performance, but also in the radiological safety and the Vacuum Vessel viability, among others. To support a design choice of the blanket thickness, we carry out in this paper a neutronic and activation study of the two blanket options.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 4 more Smart Citations

Neutronics and activation of the preliminary reaction chamber of HiPER reactor based in a SCLL blanket

Juárez

Sanz

López-Revelles

et al. 2013

Fusion Engineering and Design

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Section: Neutronics and Activationmentioning

confidence: 87%

Section: Preliminary Reaction Chamber For Hiper Reactormentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Neutronics and activation of the preliminary reaction chamber of HiPER reactor based in a SCLL blanket

Juárez

Sanz

López-Revelles

et al. 2013

Fusion Engineering and Design

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Direct-drive inertial confinement fusion: A review

et al. 2015

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The direct-drive, laser-based approach to inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is reviewed from its inception following the demonstration of the first laser to its implementation on the present generation of high-power lasers. The review focuses on the evolution of scientific understanding gained from target-physics experiments in many areas, identifying problems that were demonstrated and the solutions implemented. The review starts with the basic understanding of laser–plasma interactions that was obtained before the declassification of laser-induced compression in the early 1970s and continues with the compression experiments using infrared lasers in the late 1970s that produced thermonuclear neutrons. The problem of suprathermal electrons and the target preheat that they caused, associated with the infrared laser wavelength, led to lasers being built after 1980 to operate at shorter wavelengths, especially 0.35 μm—the third harmonic of the Nd:glass laser—and 0.248 μm (the KrF gas laser). The main physics areas relevant to direct drive are reviewed. The primary absorption mechanism at short wavelengths is classical inverse bremsstrahlung. Nonuniformities imprinted on the target by laser irradiation have been addressed by the development of a number of beam-smoothing techniques and imprint-mitigation strategies. The effects of hydrodynamic instabilities are mitigated by a combination of imprint reduction and target designs that minimize the instability growth rates. Several coronal plasma physics processes are reviewed. The two-plasmon–decay instability, stimulated Brillouin scattering (together with cross-beam energy transfer), and (possibly) stimulated Raman scattering are identified as potential concerns, placing constraints on the laser intensities used in target designs, while other processes (self-focusing and filamentation, the parametric decay instability, and magnetic fields), once considered important, are now of lesser concern for mainline direct-drive target concepts. Filamentation is largely suppressed by beam smoothing. Thermal transport modeling, important to the interpretation of experiments and to target design, has been found to be nonlocal in nature. Advances in shock timing and equation-of-state measurements relevant to direct-drive ICF are reported. Room-temperature implosions have provided an increased understanding of the importance of stability and uniformity. The evolution of cryogenic implosion capabilities, leading to an extensive series carried out on the 60-beam OMEGA laser [Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, 495 (1997)], is reviewed together with major advances in cryogenic target formation. A polar-drive concept has been developed that will enable direct-drive–ignition experiments to be performed on the National Ignition Facility [Haynam et al., Appl. Opt. 46(16), 3276 (2007)]. The advantages offered by the alternative approaches of fast ignition and shock ignition and the issues associated with these concepts are described. The lessons learned from target-physics and implosion experiments are taken into account in ignition and high-gain target designs for laser wavelengths of 1/3 μm and 1/4 μm. Substantial advances in direct-drive inertial fusion reactor concepts are reviewed. Overall, the progress in scientific understanding over the past five decades has been enormous, to the point that inertial fusion energy using direct drive shows significant promise as a future environmentally attractive energy source.

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Thermo-fluid dynamics and corrosion analysis of a self cooled lead lithium blanket for the HiPER reactor

et al. 2015

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The HiPER reactor is the HiPER project phase devoted to power production. To reach a preliminary reactor design, tritium breeding schemes need to be adapted to the HiPER project technologies selection: direct drive ignition, 150 × MJ/shot 10 Hz of power released through fusion reactions, and the dry first wall scheme. In this paper we address the main challenge of the HiPER EUROFER-based self cooled lead lithium blanket, which is related to the corrosive behavior of Pb-15.7Li in contact with EUROFER. We evaluate the cooling and corrosion behavior of the so-called separated first wall blanket (SFWB) configuration by performing thermo-fluid dynamics simulations using a large eddy simulation approach. Despite the expected improvement over the integrated first wall blanket, we still find an unsatisfactory cooling performance, expressed as a low outlet Pb-15.7Li temperature plus too high corrosion rates derived from local Pb-15.7Li high temperature and velocity, which can mainly be attributed to the geometry of the channels. Nevertheless, the analysis allowed us to devise future modifications of the SFWB to overcome the limitations found with the present design.

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Neutronics Assessment of Blanket Options for the HAPL Laser Inertial Fusion Energy Chamber

Cited by 5 publications

References 10 publications

Neutronics and activation of the preliminary reaction chamber of HiPER reactor based in a SCLL blanket

Neutronics and activation of the preliminary reaction chamber of HiPER reactor based in a SCLL blanket

Direct-drive inertial confinement fusion: A review

Thermo-fluid dynamics and corrosion analysis of a self cooled lead lithium blanket for the HiPER reactor

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