A Dual Coolant Lithium Lead Breeder Blanket for a Fusion Power Plant Systems Model

A Dual Coolant Lithium Lead Breeder Blanket for a Fusion Power Plant Systems Model

A Dual Coolant Lithium Lead Breeder Blanket for a Fusion Power Plant Systems Model 150 150 UKAEA Opendata
UKAEA-CCFE-CP(23)51

A Dual Coolant Lithium Lead Breeder Blanket for a Fusion Power Plant Systems Model

The EU DEMO power plant is the final stage of the EUROfusion Fusion Technology Programme’s route to commercially viable electricity supply [1]. The selection of apposite technologies for DEMO power plant sub-systems is essential. The breeding blanket, responsible for absorption of nuclear energy, tritium fuel production and a substantial proportion of shielding, is a particularly critical sub-system since blanket design choices effect the entire fusion power plant (and plant site) design. Hence, it is necessary to explore how potential blanket technologies will fit within the power plant engineering constraints. PROCESS [2] is a well-established reactor systems code which can be used to evaluate the industrial viability of fusion power plant design choices. The code consists of simple physics and engineering algorithms and is controlled by the user with selected inputs and constraints. PROCESS can be used to find a set of self-consistent parameters which either maximise or minimise a chosen figure of merit such as pulse length or capital cost. Modelling capability for two of the possible blanket design concepts has been developed previously for the PROCESS code: these are Helium Cooled Pebble Bed (HCPB) and Helium Cooled Lithium Lead (HCLL). We have built a new Dual Coolant Lithium Lead (DCLL) model based on current DEMO research and development. The DCLL concept uses a Lead-lithium (PbLi) alloy as a tritium breeder, tritium carrier and neutron multiplier. Critically, PbLi also acts as the primary blanket coolant, in other words the DCLL concept is self-cooled and therefore has a potential advantage for thermodynamic efficiency [3]. We present the first results of implementing the DCLL model within PROCESS using DEMO Power Plant Specifications and compare key results (e.g., cost, component lifetime) to the HCPB and HCLL blanket options.   [1]           Federici, G., et al. “Overview of the DEMO staged design approach in Europe.” Nuclear fusion 59.6 (2019): 066013. [2]          Kovari, M., et al. ““PROCESS”: A systems code for fusion power plants—Part 1: Physics.” Fusion Engineering and Design 89.12 (2014): 3054-3069. [3]           Rapisarda, D., et al. “The European Dual Coolant Lithium Lead breeding blanket for DEMO: status and perspectives.” Nuclear Fusion 61.11 (2021): 115001.

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32nd Symposium on Fusion Technology (SOFT), Dubrovnik, Croatia, 18–23 September 2022