Progress in the design development of EU DEMO helium-cooled pebble bed primary heat transfer system

Moscato, I.; Barucca, L.; Ciattaglia, S.; D'Aleo, Fedele; Maio, P.A. Di; Federici, G.; Tarallo, Andrea

doi:10.1016/j.fusengdes.2019.04.006

Cited by 14 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…Similar studies performed for the helium-cooled pebble bed (HCPB) BB concept are reported in [13]. For the HCPB EU-DEMO concept, the BB PHTS is divided into six loops for outboard (OB) blankets and three loops for inboard (IB) blankets [14], while for the WCLL concept, the pre-conceptual design provides single cooling loops for the BZ and FW, respectively [15]. Consequently, a large amount of coolant could be released in the containment after a LOCA event.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Development of a Thermal-Hydraulic Model for the EU-DEMO Tokamak Building and LOCA Simulation

et al. 2023

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The EU-DEMO must demonstrate the possibility of generating electricity through nuclear fusion reactions. Moreover, it must denote the necessary technologies to control a powerful plasma with adequate availability and to meet the safety requirements for plant licensing. However, the extensive radioactive materials inventory, the complexity of the plant, and the presence of massive energy sources require a rigorous safety approach to fully realize fusion power’s environmental advantages. The Tokamak building barrier design must address two main issues: radioactive mass transport hazards and energy-related or pressure/vacuum hazards. Safety studies are performed in the frame of the EUROfusion Safety And Environment (SAE) work package to support design improvement and evaluate the thermal-hydraulic behavior of confinement building environments during accident conditions in addition to source term mobilization. This paper focuses on developing a thermal-hydraulic model of the EU-DEMO Tokamak building. A preliminary model of the heat ventilation and air conditioning system and vent detritiation system is developed. A loss-of-coolant accident is studied by investigating the Tokamak building pressurization, source term mobilization, and release. Different nodalizations were compared, highlighting their effects on source term estimation. Results suggest that the building design should be improved to maintain the pressure below safety limits; some mitigative systems are preliminarily investigated for this purpose.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 83%

Development of a Thermal-Hydraulic Model for the EU-DEMO Tokamak Building and LOCA Simulation

et al. 2023

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“…Different cooling fluids, different temperatures and pressures and pulsed operation represent significant challenges to the design of the heat transfer and conversion system as well as the very large and, in part, pulsed electrical power requested by the different electrical loads necessary for the fusion reactor (several times bigger than the electrical power requested in a nuclear or conventional power plant) [40][41][42]. Any effort to reduce the complexity of the DEMO BoP, Work is ongoing with the strong support of relevant industry, to investigate the design of both options of helium and water as coolants for the breeding blanket to advance the design of PHTSs, intermediate heat transfer system (IHTS) and PCS and to assess the readiness of the technologies postulated for a plant that operate with an energy storage system (ESS) [40,[43][44][45][46]. Figure 8 shows the preliminary layout and table 5 summarises the main characteristics of main BoP equipment parameters for the case of a helium cooled pebble bed (HCPB) and a water-cooled lithium lead (WCLL) concept, respectively.…”

Section: Balance Of Plant (Bop)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Work is ongoing with the strong support of relevant industry, to investigate the design of both options of helium and water as coolants for the breeding blanket to advance the design of PHTSs, intermediate heat transfer system (IHTS) and PCS and to assess the readiness of the technologies postulated for a plant that operate with an energy storage system (ESS) [40,[43][44][45][46]. Figure 8 shows the preliminary layout and table 5 summarises the main characteristics of main BoP equipment parameters for the case of a helium cooled pebble bed (HCPB) and a water-cooled lithium lead (WCLL) concept, respectively.…”

Section: Balance Of Plant (Bop)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Overview of the DEMO staged design approach in Europe

Federici¹,

Bachmann²,

et al. 2019

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This paper describes the status of the pre-conceptual design activities in Europe to advance the technical basis of the design of a DEMOnstration Fusion Power Plant (DEMO) to come in operation around the middle of this century with the main aims of demonstrating the production of few hundred MWs of net electricity, the feasibility of operation with a closedtritium fuel cycle, and maintenance systems capable of achieving adequate plant availability. This is expected to benefit as much as possible from the ITER experience, in terms of design, licensing, and construction. Emphasis is on an integrated design approach, based on system engineering, which provides a clear path for urgent R&D and addresses the main design integration issues by taking account critical systems interdependencies and inherent uncertainties of important design assumptions (physics and technology). A design readiness evaluation, together with a technology maturation and down selection strategy are planned through structured and transparent Gate Reviews. By embedding industry experience in the design from the beginning it will ensure that early attention is given to technology readiness and industrial feasibility, costs, maintenance, power conversion, nuclear safety and licensing aspects.

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“…On the contrary, the HCPB breeding blanket concept is based on "sandwich" architecture [24], where there are pebble beds of lithium orthosilicate and beryllium between parallel cooling plates [25]. This model breeding blanket has 18 segments in IB, and OB has seven modules per segment [26].…”

Section: Geometrical Demo Model and Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Activities in Divertor Reflector and Linear Plates Using WCLL and HCPB Breeding Blanket Concepts

Breidokaité

Stankūnas

2021

Energies

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In fusion devices, such as European Demonstration Fusion Power Reactor (EU DEMO), primary neutrons can cause material activation due to the interaction between the source particles and the targeting material. Subsequently, the reactor’s inner components become activated. For safety and safe performance purposes, it is necessary to evaluate neutron-induced activities. Activities results from divertor reflector and liner plates are presented in this work. The purpose of liner shielding plates is to protect the vacuum vessel and magnet coils from neutrons. As for reflector plates, the function is to shield the cooling components under plasma-facing components from alpha particles, thermal effects, and impurities. Plates are made of Eurofer with a 3 mm layer of tungsten, while the water is used for cooling purposes. The calculations were performed using two EU DEMO MCNP (Monte Carlo N-Particles) models with different breeding blanket configurations: helium-cooled pebble bed (HCPB) and water-cooled lithium lead (WCLL). The TENDL–2017 nuclear data library has been used for activation reactions cross-sections and nuclear reactions. Activation calculations were performed using the FISPACT-II code at the end of irradiation for cooling times of 0 s–1000 years. Radionuclide analysis of divertor liner and reflector plates is also presented in this paper. The main radionuclides, with at least 1% contribution to the total value of activation characteristics, were identified for the previously mentioned cooling times.

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Progress in the design development of EU DEMO helium-cooled pebble bed primary heat transfer system

Cited by 14 publications

References 16 publications

Development of a Thermal-Hydraulic Model for the EU-DEMO Tokamak Building and LOCA Simulation

Development of a Thermal-Hydraulic Model for the EU-DEMO Tokamak Building and LOCA Simulation

Overview of the DEMO staged design approach in Europe

Activities in Divertor Reflector and Linear Plates Using WCLL and HCPB Breeding Blanket Concepts

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