Tritium aspects of the fusion nuclear science facility

Paul W. Humrickhouse, Brad J. Merrill

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

23 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Fusion Nuclear Science Facility (FNSF) is intended to bridge the technical gaps from ITER to DEMO, and provide a fully nuclear environment for the advancement of materials and blanket science, among other missions. Though smaller (∼500 MW fusion power) than the envisioned DEMO, our FNSF design still seeks to test DEMO-relevant components and technologies, and to that end one of its goals is to achieve a tritium breeding ratio near one using a dual-cooled lead lithium (DCLL) blanket. We explore here the migration of bred tritium through in-vessel components and coolant loops, which is exacerbated by the relatively low solubility of tritium in PbLi and the high operating temperatures envisioned in later phases of operation. Some features inherent to the design of the DCLL help limit tritium losses, namely the relatively high PbLi flow rates; coupled with efficient tritium extraction, the DCLL potentially achieves low tritium permeation losses without the use of permeation barriers. We outline here the design of such an extraction system, and some of the materials challenges that must be met in order to realize it. The efficacy of these and other design features, such as coaxial piping, is demonstrated via a series of parameter studies. We also investigate the effect of parameter uncertainties, and find that the imprecise knowledge of the tritium solubility in PbLi in particular leads to very disparate estimates of tritium losses. Depending on the experimental value used, losses range from ∼0.05 to over 6 g of tritium per year.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)302-313
Number of pages12
JournalFusion Engineering and Design
Volume135
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 2018
Externally publishedYes

Funding

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Fusion Energy Sciences, under contract number DE-AC07-05ID14517. This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Fusion Energy Sciences, under contract number DE-AC07-05ID14517.

Keywords

  • Fusion safety
  • Tritium permeation

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