Neutronic Investigations of a Laser Fusion Driven Lithium Cooled Thorium Breeder

dc.authorid celik, yurdunaz/0000-0002-9211-8510
dc.authorscopusid 7102942712
dc.authorscopusid 14027391200
dc.authorscopusid 54384850100
dc.authorwosid Sarer, Basar/B-9445-2015
dc.authorwosid Şahin, Sŭmer/C-6252-2013
dc.contributor.author Sahin, Sumer
dc.contributor.author Sarer, Basar
dc.contributor.author Celik, Yurdunaz
dc.contributor.other Department of Mechanical Engineering
dc.date.accessioned 2024-07-05T14:27:19Z
dc.date.available 2024-07-05T14:27:19Z
dc.date.issued 2014
dc.department Atılım University en_US
dc.department-temp [Sahin, Sumer] Atilim Univ, Fac Engn, TR-06836 Ankara, Turkey; [Sarer, Basar] Gazi Univ, Fac Sci, TR-06503 Ankara, Turkey; [Celik, Yurdunaz] Gazi Univ, Inst Sci & Technol, TR-06503 Ankara, Turkey en_US
dc.description celik, yurdunaz/0000-0002-9211-8510 en_US
dc.description.abstract The paper investigates the main parameters of a Laser Inertial Confinement Fusion Fission Energy (LIFE) driven thorium breeder. A similar blanket to the (LIFE) engine design in Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is chosen in order to allow mutual feedback between two geographically separated teams towards a more advanced and improved design under consideration of totally independent views. In the basic design, frozen (D,T) fusion fuel ice is shot to the center of 5 m diameter spherical fusion reactor chamber cavity in pulsed mode (10-30 Hz). Fusion fuel burns through direct or indirect laser beam irradiation. The first wall surrounds the fusion chamber and is made of S-304 steel (2 cm). The fusion reactor cavity is kept in high vacuum. It is followed by a natural lithium coolant zone. A 2nd S-304 layer (2 cm) separates the lithium zone on the right side from the graphite reflector (30 cm). The outer boundary of the graphite reflector is also covered with a 3rd S-304 layer (2 cm). The calculations have been performed for a fusion driver power of 500 MWth with the last available version of MCNP, namely with MCNPX-2.7.0. In the first calculation phase, the thickness of the natural lithium coolant-tritium breeder zone (MU has been varied as 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 and 100 cm to select the coolant thickness Delta R-Li; to have a satisfactory tritium breeding ratio (TBR) for continuous fusion reactor operation. For a pure fusion blanket without any fissionable elements in the coolant, TBR values are calculated as 1.237, 1.312, 1.370, 1.415, 1.449 and 1.476, respectively, for corresponding coolant thicknesses. A Delta R-Li value of 50 cm would keep TBR > 1.05 for self-sustaining tritium supply. These Delta R-Li values lead to blanket energy multiplication values of M = 1.209, 1.216, 1.219, 1.222, 1.223 and 1.224, respectively, and have been calculated, as a result of exoenergetic neutron absorption in Li-6. For coolant thickness values >50 cm, the increase of "M" would remain minor. In the second phase, ThO2 has been suspended in the form of micro-size tristructural-isotropic (TRISO) particles in the lithium coolant for U-233 breeding. TRISO fuel has the great advantage of high mechanical stability. Furthermore, fission products will be separated from the coolant. TRISO particles have been dispersed homogenously in the lithium coolant with volume fractions V-tr = 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 10 vol-%. Calculations with Delta R-Li = 50 cm and by variable V-tr result with TBR = 1.229, 1.222, 1.214, 1.206, 1.1997 and 1.1622, respectively. Parasitic neutron absorption in Thorium decreases the TBR values. For V-tr < 5 vol-% TRISO in the coolant, the increase of the neutron absorption in thorium will be compensated to a great degree through neutron multiplications via Th-232(n,f) and Th-232(n,2n) reactions so that the sacrifice on TBR remains acceptable. However, for V-tr 5 TRISO vol-%, neutron absorption in thorium reduces TBR drastically. On the other hand, the blanket energy multiplication M increases with thorium volume fraction, namely as M = 1.2206, 1.2322, 1.2426, 1.2536, 1.2636, 1.3112 for respective TRISO volume fractions due to the contribution of fission energy. Fissile fuel productions in the blanket are calculated as 17.23, 33.09, 48.66, 64.21, 79.77 and 159.71 U-233 (kg/year), respectively. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. en_US
dc.identifier.citationcount 10
dc.identifier.doi 10.1016/j.pnucene.2014.02.001
dc.identifier.endpage 196 en_US
dc.identifier.issn 0149-1970
dc.identifier.scopus 2-s2.0-84897814475
dc.identifier.startpage 188 en_US
dc.identifier.uri https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pnucene.2014.02.001
dc.identifier.uri https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14411/246
dc.identifier.volume 73 en_US
dc.identifier.wos WOS:000341071800018
dc.identifier.wosquality Q1
dc.institutionauthor Şahin, Sümer
dc.language.iso en en_US
dc.publisher Pergamon-elsevier Science Ltd en_US
dc.relation.publicationcategory Makale - Uluslararası Hakemli Dergi - Kurum Öğretim Elemanı en_US
dc.rights info:eu-repo/semantics/closedAccess en_US
dc.scopus.citedbyCount 14
dc.subject Inertial confinement fusion en_US
dc.subject Thorium en_US
dc.subject TRISO particles en_US
dc.subject Natural lithium coolant en_US
dc.subject Tritium breeding en_US
dc.title Neutronic Investigations of a Laser Fusion Driven Lithium Cooled Thorium Breeder en_US
dc.type Article en_US
dc.wos.citedbyCount 12
dspace.entity.type Publication
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