Challenges towards an acceleration in stellarator reactors engineering: The dual coolant lithium–lead breeding blanket helical-axis advanced stellarator case

Palermo, Iole; Alguacil, Javier; Pablo Catalán, Juan; Fernández-Berceruelo, Iván; Lion, Jorrit; Ángel Noguerón Valiente, Jose; Sosa, David; Rapisarda, David; Urgorri, Fernando R.; Warmer, Felix; Kembleton, Richard

doi:10.1016/j.energy.2023.129970

Cited by 5 publications

(3 citation statements)

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“…In figure 2(a) for RUN 1, the spectrum is dominantly composed of several peaks. According to some literature, peaks around 8.4 MeV and 6.0 MeV were assigned to the energy deposition events of energetic ions produced by 12 C(n,α) 9 Be (Q ∼ −5.702 MeV) and 12 C(n,n'2α)α (Q ∼ −7.275 MeV) reactions inside the SCD, respectively [42]. Events in the lower energy deposition region are likely due to elastic collisions of fast neutrons.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many different concepts of BB have so far been proposed for fusion reactors which are based on water-cooled ceramic breeder, helium-cooled ceramic breeder, helium-cooled lithium lead, and watercooled lithium lead method, self-cooled liquid metal concept, and so on [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. All the proposed BB are designed using the most advanced and updated calculation tools and nuclear data libraries [9][10][11][12][13]. However, uncertainties in these calculations, particularly regarding the tritium breeding ratio, can affect BB performance, impacting reactor operational scenarios, plant costs, and nuclear waste production.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Simultaneous measurements for fast neutron flux and tritium production rate using pulse shape discrimination and single crystal CVD diamond detector

Kobayashi,

Yoshihashi,

Ogawa

et al. 2024

Nucl. Fusion

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This paper presents the development of a simultaneous measurement method for fast neutron energy spectra and tritium production rates within mixed radiation fields using a single crystal Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) diamond detector (SDD) combined with a lithium fluoride (LiF) foil. The method involves the separation of pulses with rectangular shapes and the determination of the depth position within the single crystal diamond (SCD) struck by fast neutrons or nuclear reaction products including recoil tritons from the LiF foil based on pulse width, extracting pulse events occurred at the specific bulk region and the surface region of the SCD. Subsequently, unfolding techniques were employed to analyse the energy deposition spectrum of pulses at the specific bulk region which are induced only by fast neutrons, allowing the deduction of the fast neutron energy spectrum. To evaluate the tritium production rate, the energy deposition spectrum of pulses from events occurring at the SCD surface facing the LiF foil was analysed. By estimating the energy deposition spectrum solely induced by fast neutrons striking the SCD surface and subtracting it from the energy deposition spectrum of events at the SCD surface, the contribution of energetic ions, such as recoil tritons generated by the 6Li(n,α)3H reaction in the LiF foil, was determined. The fast neutron flux and tritium production rate obtained through this study were consistent with particle transport calculations, demonstrating the successful development of a method suitable for performance testing of fusion reactor blankets.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Simultaneous measurements for fast neutron flux and tritium production rate using pulse shape discrimination and single crystal CVD diamond detector

Kobayashi,

Yoshihashi,

Ogawa

et al. 2024

Nucl. Fusion

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“…Additionally, the reactor geometry includes 50 superconductive non-planar coils [11] responsible for generating the confining magnetic field. The major radius of the reactor extends to 22 meters, with an aspect ratio of 12.2 HELIAS reactor geometry models were created using the HeliasGeom tool [12]. The tool relies on extending the last plasma surface using surface normals to form the shape of the first wall [8].…”

Section: Parametric Geometry Model and Simulation Toolmentioning

confidence: 99%

Proof-of-principle of parametric stellarator neutronics modeling using Serpent2

Lyytinen,

Snicker,

Virtanen

et al. 2024

Nucl. Fusion

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This contribution presents neutron transport studies for the 5-period HELIAS stellarator using the Serpent2 code. These studies utilize a parametric geometry model, enabling scans in neutronics modeling by varying the thickness of the reactor layers. For example, the tritium breeding ratio (TBR) can be determined by exploring various blanket material options and thicknesses to identify the threshold configuration that meets the TBR design criterion of 1.15. We found out that with the helium-cooled pebble ped (HCPB) candidate option, the TBR criterion is met with a breeding zone thickness of 26 cm, while with the dual-coolant lithium lead (DCLL) the threshold is exceeded at a thickness of 46 cm. Furthermore, the geometry includes non-planar field coils, allowing to study the fast neutron flux in these superconducting coils with a technological limit of 1e9 1/cm2s. It is shown that the neutron fast flux is not constant at the coils, necessitating a neutron transport simulation to determine the distribution of the fast-flux at the coils. We show that the peak flux can be more than a factor of 2 higher than the average flux, and that the peak flux location rotates helically.

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