Integrated Liquid Metal Flowing First Wall and Open-Surface Divertor for Fusion Nuclear Science Facility: Concept, Design, and Analysis

The Fusion Energy System Studies (FESS) Fusion Nuclear Science Facility (FNSF) project team in the United States is examining the use of liquid metals (LMs) for plasma-facing components (PFCs). Our approach has been to utilize an already established fusion design, FESS-FNSF, which is a tokamak-based machine with 518 MW fusion power, a 4.8-m major radius, a 1.2-m minor radius, and a machine average neutron wall loading of ~1 MW/m². For this design, we propose a PFC concept that integrates a flowing LM first wall (FW) and an open-surface divertor. The flowing LM first removes the surface heat flux from the FW and then proceeds to the lower section of the vacuum chamber to form a large area LM surface for absorbing high peak surface heat flux in the divertor region. In pursuing the application of large open LM surfaces in the FNSF, two new computer codes have been developed and then applied to the analysis of free-surface magnetohydrodynamic flows and heat transfer, including fast thin flowing liquid layers over the solid FW (liquid wall), a tublike divertor, and a fast flow divertor. The analysis is aimed at optimization of the liquid wall design by matching certain proposed design criteria and also at evaluation of the maximum heat fluxes, using liquid lithium (Li) as a working fluid. It was demonstrated that the flowing Li FW (at ~2 cm and ~10 m/s) can tolerate a surface heat flux of ~1 MW/m², while the open-surface Li divertor can remove a maximum high peak heat flux of 10 MW/m². The paper also focuses on the underlying science. One such example is the evaluation and characterization of heat transfer mechanisms and heat transfer intensification in the tublike Li divertor.