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

Abstract

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.

Modelling the thermomechanical behaviour of the tungsten first wall in HiPER laser fusion scenarios

“…Although there is no definite design for the HiPER chamber, some advanced concepts have already been reported [5,9]. Different scenarios for HiPER development are foreseen [10].…”

“…The inner radius of the chamber depends on the facility, being 5 m for the Experimental facility and 6.5 m for the Prototype and Demo reactors. In all cases the chamber has an onion-like shape consisting of different layers: (i) the FW, directly facing the irradiation and made of W [32]; (ii) substrate, which gives mechanical support to the FW and it is proposed to be made of oxide dispersionstrengthened reduced activation ferritic/martensitic (ODS-RAFM) steel [33]; (iii) coolant (for the Prototype and Demo scenarios the chamber is also surrounded by a thick liquid LiPb blanket) [9]; (iv) a borated concrete wall for neutron shielding.…”

“…There are two main approaches to fusion energy: magnetic confinement (MC) and inertial confinement (IC) by laser (laser fusion). The most advanced projects to demonstrate the viability of laser fusion energy are LIFE (laser inertial fusion energy) in the USA [1][2][3][4] and HiPER (high-power laser energy research) in Europe [5][6][7][8][9][10].…”

Sistema para frenado de neutrones y reproducción de tritio en plantas de fusión nuclear por confinamiento inercial

“…La cría del tritio en HiPER como en cualquier reactor por fusión juega un papel fundamental. En el marco de HiPER se presentaron algunos conceptos [39][40][41] con mantos líquidos, usando como material estructural aceros ferrítico-martensíticos o aceros RAFM cuyo resistencia a la irradiación con neutrones rápidos alcanza los ⁓10 -20 dpa [37,42], lo cual implicaría de 2 a 3 años de operación en un reactor comercial antes de tener que remplazar los módulos irradiados. Esta es la solución propuesta también en LIFE mientras no existan materiales con un uso a largo plazo.…”

“…Bajo el esquema de blanco directo es fundamental la uniformidad y la sincronización de la iluminación sobre el blanco. A pesar de que no se tiene un diseño definitivo de la cámara, se han propuesto algunos conceptos avanzados [34,41] y se prevén diferentes escenarios para el desarrollo de HiPER [49] (Tabla 1.1). Inicialmente, se requerirán instalaciones con el objetivo de probar un esquema de ignición avanzada con operación de láser repetitivos; donde la irradiación está limitada a unos pocos disparos con energías de ⁓20 MJ (HiPER-Exp).…”