Conception of a Combined Icf Power Plant and a Fission Reactor-Laser Driver

D'yachenko, P.P.; Zrodnikov, A. V.; Kononov, V.N.; Pupko, V. Ya.; Korobkin, V. V.; Prokhovov, A.M.

doi:10.13182/fst91-a11946969

Cited by 12 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 2 publications

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“…The special interest in systems of this type is due to the development and creation of subcritical target-blanket complexes for accelerator-driven systems [5,[7][8][9][10]13] and nuclear-pumped optical lasers [5,24,25]. For example, a demonstration sample of such a nuclear-pumped optical laser is currently operating at the Physics and Power-Engineering Institute [5,24,25]; this is a unique three-zone reactor system with no analogs anywhere in the world.…”

Section: σ ψmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Examples are power systems with enhanced breeding of fuel [2], systems of coupled small pulsed reactors [3][4][5], sectioned reactor systems and neutron-multiplying boosters [3,5,6], blankets for a thermonuclear reactor [5,7], subcritical target-blanket complexes for accelerator-driven systems [8][9][10], reactorlaser systems [5], and other types. Such systems have been used to perform a combination of computational-theoretical and experimental studies of physical processes.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Methods for calculating coupled reactor systems

Gulevich

Kukharchuk

2004

At Energy

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803Theoretical approaches to analyzing neutron kinetics in coupled reactor systems are reviewed. A systematic exposition of methods based on the use of integral parameters and an integral equation decribing neutron transport with the energy and angular variables eliminated is given. Special attention is given to a reactor-subcritical assembly as a coupled system.Coupled reactor systems are one area of modern reactor physics that is undergoing intense development. Interest in such systems has increased substantially in the last few years in connection with the development of nuclear systems for various purposes where coupled reactor systems are to be used.The term "coupled reactor systems" (coupled in the neutron-physical sense), which was first introduced into the theory of nuclear reactors by R. Avery [1], signifies that in each reactor some neutrons are emitted as a result of fissions caused by neutrons produced in other reactors. It should be noted that in general a separate component of such a system can be a deeply subcritical and a self-critical nuclear reactor, which makes it possible new ways of controlling coupled systems and increasing their nuclear safety.There are many types of coupled reactor systems. Examples are power systems with enhanced breeding of fuel [2], systems of coupled small pulsed reactors [3][4][5], sectioned reactor systems and neutron-multiplying boosters [3, 5, 6], blankets for a thermonuclear reactor [5,7], subcritical target-blanket complexes for accelerator-driven systems [8-10], reactorlaser systems [5], and other types. Such systems have been used to perform a combination of computational-theoretical and experimental studies of physical processes. It has been shown that such systems have special features which conventional reactors do not. All this required specialists to develop not only a specific theory of coupled systems but also new approaches to the numerical simulation of the neutron-physical, kinetic, and thermal processes occurring in them. In the present paper, a systematic exposition of methods for solving such problems is given.As already noted above, the theoretical approaches which R. Avery was the first to expound in the most systematic manner form the methodological foundation for studying neutron kinetics in coupled reactor systems. In Avery's formalism, integral parameters characterizing individual reactors (individual multiplying zones or regions) and their couplings are used to study a system. The quantity k ij is the probability that a fission neutron in the jth reactor will produce a next-generation fission neutron in the ith reactor and is called the coupling coefficient for i ≠ j; k ij is itself the neutron multiplication coefficient in the ith reactor. The quantity l ij is defined as the average lifetime of prompt neutrons for the process where the neutrons are transferred from the jth into the ith reactor with i ≠ j and is, strictly speaking, the average lifetime of prompt neutrons with i = j. We note that in general k ij ≠ k ji and l ij ≠ l ji .Explic...

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Section: σ ψmentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Methods for calculating coupled reactor systems

Gulevich

Kukharchuk

2004

At Energy

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“…The "master oscillator -two round trip amplifier" principle with phase conjugation and harmonic generation is used. The scheme of optical quantum nuclear-pumped amplifier is analogous to the scheme that has been proposed in [2] and presented in fig.2. RPLS is a coupled reactor system consisting of pulse periodic fast reactor and subcritical (iii neutron sense) laser module with effective multiplication factor of neutrons 0.8 -0.9.…”

Section: Scheme Of the Rplsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the end of the 80's, the concept of high power laser system pumped by fast burst reactor has been formulated by Profs. P.P.Dyachenko, A.V.Zrodnikov and others [2]. This concept is based on the optical quantum nuclear-pumped amplifier.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Status of the research for nuclear-pumped lasers in IPPE

Gulevich

D'yachenko

Fokin

et al. 2000

Proceedings of SPIE

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The conception of a high power laser system based on new physical principles (direct nuclear-to-optical conversion) has been proposed in the Institute for Physics & Power Engineering (Russia, Obninsk). Energy model of system mentioned above is constructed at IPPE. It consists of a thermal subcritical (in neutron aspect) laser module (LM) controlled by the neutron flux from a two-core fast burst reactor. The laser module is designed as a cylindrical structure with a longitudinal cavity for two cores of the pulse reactor and reactivity modulator and consists of the laser active elements (LAEL) with U-235, imitators of LAEL and neutron moderator elements. The laser active element is filled with an Ar-Xe or He-Ar-Xe laser active medium. The flanks of the laser-active elements are manufactured from an optically transparent material and provide the input and output of the laser beam. Generation of the laser irradiation was produced on the transitions with the wavelengths 1.73 and 2.03 m. This paper is devoted to the analysis of the preliminary neutron and laser experimental results received durmg the energy start-up of the system. The main neutron and laser parameters were measured by using special elaborated methods. Comparative analysis for computed and experimental neutron data is performed. Approaches to the increase of output laser energy of a reactor-pumped laser system are also discussed.

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Power model of a laser system pumped by a pulsed reactor

Gulevich¹,

D'yachenko²,

Zrodnikov³

et al. 1996

At Energy

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The operation of a laser with direct nuclear pumping is based on a fundamental phenomenon of nature --the excitation and relaxation of a nuclear-excited plasma, arising when the charged products of nuclear reactions stop in matter. The recombination-nonequilibrium plasma formed in the process consists of an almost "ready" laser-active medium. Therefore one can say that a nuclear-pumped laser is an apparatus in which the nuclear energy is converted directly into laser radiation. If energy from a chain fission reaction is used to pump the laser, then the corresponding class of lasers is said to be reactorpumped lasers.Lasers of this type are of interest because of the unique properties of the reactor as a pump source: high energy intensiveness, aatonomy, compactness, possibility of pumping a large volume of active media on account of the high penetrability of neutrons in multiplying systems, and so on. The use of these properties makes it possible to create powerful reactor-laser systems that could f'md wide applications in science and technology [1]. The development of such systems is of interest as a new direction in nuclear power that is promising on account of the possibility of obtaining the "highest sort" of energy --laser radiation --on industrial scales.Substantial success has been achieved in recent years in this field of research. Lasing has been obtained with pumping of 30 different gaseous media with fission fragments, and the understanding of the mechanisms of elementary processes occurring in nuclear-pumped lasers and in the technology used to manufacture them has been substantially deepened [2, 3]. However, the radiation energy of such lasers, which have been investigated in laboratory experiments, is still low and does not exceed several Joules.Our aim in the present work is to discuss the apparatus and the characteristics of a power model intended for experimental demonstration of the unique properties of reactor-pumped lasers.Model Layout. In the optical scheme of the model, shown in Fig. 1, the principle of a driving oscillator --double-pass amplifier is used. The model is based on an optical nuclear-pumped quantum amplifier, consisting of two units: reactor (ignition) and laser (Fig. 2). The reactor unit employs a double-core pulsed, self-extinguishing, fast reactor of the type "Bars-5" [4] with 5.1017 fissions in the two cores and a pulse width of 40 ~sec at half-height. In the neutron-physical respect, the laser unit is a deeply subcritical, booster zone with Keff < 0.9. The main elements are a laser-active element, its simulator, and neutron moderator and reflector elements.The laser-active element consists of a thin-walled stainless steel tube 50 mm in diameter and 2500 mm long with a 5 /~m thick inner coating of 235U metal; the tube is filled with a laser-active medium and sealed at the ends with optical windows that are transparent to laser radiation (Fig. 3). The laser-active medium consists of an argon-xenon mixture (200: I) under normal conditions. This choice is associated with the" fa...

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Conception of a Combined Icf Power Plant and a Fission Reactor-Laser Driver

Cited by 12 publications

References 2 publications

Methods for calculating coupled reactor systems

Methods for calculating coupled reactor systems

Status of the research for nuclear-pumped lasers in IPPE

Power model of a laser system pumped by a pulsed reactor

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