Activation and damage of fusion materials and tritium effects in inertial fusion reactors: Strategy for adequate irradiation

Abstract

Long term research in low activation materials is being pursued in fusion programs and the assessment of allowable elements and0or impurities from safety and repository reasons are being studied at Instituto Fusión Nuclear~DENIM!, using ACAB code, for national ignition facility~NIF! and inertial fusion energy~IFE! reactors. Uncertainties in nuclear data are being considered, and experiments for validation of modeling will be presented. Multiscale simulation of radiation damage is now starting to be compared with experiments, and results on the simplest material can be reported as a function of impurities, temperature, and dose. Molecular dynamics~MD! allows us to identify stress-strain curve of FeCr ferritic steels under irradiation, and macroscopic conclusions can be advanced using simple models. However, a neutron source of enough intensity and adequate energy spectrum is needed which will be very peculiar in the case of pulsed IFE, as we claimed in past years. Development of international fusion materials irradiation facility~IFMIF! will be commented and compared with solutions such as spallation, and others using ultra-intense lasers for obtaining required irradiation magnitudes. Research on radiation damage in SiC composite is being pursued at macroscopic level, but basic knowledge is scarce. A systematic identification of type of stable defects is being presented with a new tight binding MD technique. Our research on simulation of silica irradiation damage will also be presented. The role of tritium, when elemental tritium~HT! and titrated water~HTO! derive in organically bound tritium~OBT! will be explained. The deposition and absorption processes are now being considered in our calculations giving more precision and accuracy to our conclusions of dosimetry effects. The role of HT versus HTO and the importance of re-emission process will be remarked, together with the long-term role of OBT.

PKA energy spectra and primary damage identification in amorphous silica under different neutron energy spectra

“…In the case of inertial confinement fusion reactors [2,3], silica is one of the candidates material for the final optics. In the case of magnetic fusion reactors, silica will be used mostly as windows in diagnostic systems [4,5].…”

“…In the case of magnetic fusion reactors, silica will be used mostly as windows in diagnostic systems [4,5]. In both cases silica components will need to operate in high temperature and severe radiation environments.…”

Edward Teller Lectures—Lasers and Inertial Fusion Energy, Heinrich Hora and George H. Miley, eds.

“…This is still true currently. During the past two years, Stefano Atzeni, E.M. Campbell, Heinrich Hora, J. D. Kilkenny, Jürgen Meyer-ter-vehn, George H. Miley, and G. Velarde contributed articles to this journal Hora, 2004;Jablonski et al, 2005;Kilkenny et al, 2005;Lan et al, 2004;Li et al, 2004, Miley et al, 2005Neumayer et al, 2005, Osman et al, 2004a, 2004b, Pegoraro et al, 2004Perlado et al, 2005;Sari et al, 2005!. The presentation of inertial research presented in this book is most valuable for all who are actively engaged in this field or follow it with great interest, and it is an excellent supplement to the textbook on inertial fusion physics by Stefano Atzeni and Jürgen Meyer-ter-vehn, which was reviewed here recently~Hora, 2005c!.…”