Neutronics analyses for a stellarator power reactor based on the HELIAS concept

Häußler, A.; Warmer, F.; Fischer, U.

doi:10.1016/j.fusengdes.2018.02.026

Cited by 13 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The superconducting magnetic field coils are key components for a fusion reactor, and they are very sensitive for neutron radiation. The neutron wall load (NWL) distribution of HELIAS shows that there are areas with very high loads [7]. Such an area can be seen in the yellow circle in Figure 2, which has a total thickness of 103 cm.…”

Section: Weight Window Generationmentioning

confidence: 98%

“…As tritium self-sufficiency is an important criterion for a fusion power reactor, HELIAS is filled with a homogenized material mixture of the Helium Cooled Pebble Bed (HCPB) breeder blanket [6]. This breeder concept needs less space compared to other concepts in order to generate a sufficient amount of tritium [7]. The currently used radial layered construction and their thicknesses are described in Table 1.…”

Section: Helias Geometrymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The MCNP internal WW generator can be applied directly to the complex DAGMC geometry, as well as the user source subroutine [12] that describes the stellarator neutron source. It needs several iterations on the whole generation process and the WW must be tested at each step if it is sufficient for the intended use.…”

Section: Weight Window Generationmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Use of mesh based variance reduction technique for shielding calculations of the stellarator power reactor HELIAS

Häußler

Fischer

Warmer

2019

Fusion Engineering and Design

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The shielding capability is an important aspect of a fusion power plant. The neutron flux decreases in areas far away from the plasma chamber while at the same time the statistical error in Monte Carlo particle transport simulations increases significantly in such regions. This requires variance reduction methods to guide the particles in regions of interest and improve the statistical accuracy. The mesh based weight window technique, applied with ADVANTG, is investigated in this paper and successfully applied for the first neutronic investigation of the shielding performance for the HELIAS stellarator. The obtained results are in an area with high neutron wall load and reduced material thickness. They will be evaluated against the design requirements specified for the EU DEMO tokamak fusion reactor. The results show that the current HELIAS design cannot fulfill the shielding limits specified for DEMO in the investigated area, which is mainly due to the limited space available in the stellarator and should be overcome by improved design solutions for blanket and shield.

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Section: Weight Window Generationmentioning

confidence: 98%

Section: Helias Geometrymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Use of mesh based variance reduction technique for shielding calculations of the stellarator power reactor HELIAS

Häußler

Fischer

Warmer

2019

Fusion Engineering and Design

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“…In fact, the European helium cooled pebble bed (HCPB) blanket design [12] seems more favorable for a stellarator due to the low space requirements. A detailed neutronics analysis of a HELIAS power reactor is ongoing [13]. In order to have enough space between the plasma and the coils to accommodate the specified blanket a higher aspect ratio of A = 12.2 has been chosen compared to the aspect ratio of A = 10.5 in W7-X [15].…”

Section: A Design Constraints and Goalsmentioning

confidence: 99%

System Code Analysis of HELIAS-Type Fusion Reactor and Economic Comparison With Tokamaks

Warmer

Torrisi

Beidler

et al. 2016

IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci.

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Systems codes are commonly employed for the analysis and conceptual design of fusion reactors. For the helicalaxis advanced stellarator (HELIAS) line a new set of systems code models have been developed to account for the stellaratorspecific 3D aspects. The models have recently been implemented in the systems code PROCESS and verified with respect to different test cases. After having established confidence in the stellarator models, systems studies were carried out for the 5-field period HELIAS case to define the accessible reactor design window. In the multidimensional physics and engineering parameter space sensitivity studies are carried out for the reactor regime to ascertain tradeoffs between different parameters and costs. Exemplary design points are analysed in more detail using the plasma operation contour approach which, for example, can be used to determine the optimum start-up path to ignition. Finally, with a common set of non-device-specific models, the PROCESS framework allows a direct comparison of tokamaks and stellarators. Although the 5-period HELIAS is a larger machine in terms of major radius, the required mass for both concepts is comparable leading to similar construction costs.

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“…It has to be emphasised that unlike neutronics for tokamaks, the state of the art of the neutronics for stellarators is quite limited and still primitive. Preliminary developments, assessments and 2D neutronics results have been found in the literature [5][6][7] and some new 3D approaches have been considered only recently [8][9][10][11][12].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nuclear design and assessments of helical-axis advanced stellarator with dual-coolant lithium-lead breeding blanket: adaptation from DEMO tokamak reactor

Palermo¹,

Warmer²,

Häußler³

2021

Nucl. Fusion

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As a possible long-term alternative to a tokamak fusion power plant, the stellarator concept offers salient physics features (no external current drive, no risk of plasma disruptions and low recirculating power, among others) that could be offset by the more complex configurations and challenging maintenance schemes. Very ffew conceptual design studies have been performed compared to those in tokamaks, and the enhancement of engineering aspects should follow. With the recent start of operation of Wendelstein 7-X, the helical-axis advanced stellarator (HELIAS) line has again raised interest in the scientific and technologic EUROfusion programme. The main aim at present is showing that stellarators (particularly helical-axis stellarators) are viable as potential fusion reactors. For the conceptualisation of a mature HELIAS power reactor, different engineering and technological aspects must be studied, improved and solved. To this end, starting from a very preliminary reactor design called HELIAS 5-B (5-field-period), with a fusion power of 3000 MW, a neutronic model has been developed and analysed introducing in the baseline the relevant components of breeding blankets (BB). The vast experience achieved at CIEMAT in BB designs for the DEMO tokamak has been exploited, adapting the dual-coolant lithium-lead BB design elaborated in the frame of the WPBB programme of EUROfusion/PPPT to the HELIAS configuration. Preliminary neutronic assessments have been performed focussing on tritium production, power density distributions and damage/shielding responses such as nuclear heating, neutron fluence, dpa and helium production. Particle transport calculations have been performed with MCNP5v1.6 Monte Carlo code.

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Neutronics analyses for a stellarator power reactor based on the HELIAS concept

Cited by 13 publications

References 8 publications

Use of mesh based variance reduction technique for shielding calculations of the stellarator power reactor HELIAS

Use of mesh based variance reduction technique for shielding calculations of the stellarator power reactor HELIAS

System Code Analysis of HELIAS-Type Fusion Reactor and Economic Comparison With Tokamaks

Nuclear design and assessments of helical-axis advanced stellarator with dual-coolant lithium-lead breeding blanket: adaptation from DEMO tokamak reactor

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