Fission-suppressed blankets for fissile fuel breeding fusion reactors

Two blanket concepts for deuterium-tritium (DT) fusion reactors are presented which maximize fissile fuel production while at the same time suppress fission reactions. By suppressing fission reactions, the reactor will be less hazardous, and therefore easier to design, develop, and license. A fusion breeder operating a given nuclear power level can produce much more fissile fuel by suppressing fission reactions. The two blankets described use beryllium for neutron multiplication. One blanket uses two separate circulating molten salts: one salt for tritium breeding and the other salt for U-233 breeding. The other uses separate solid forms of lithium and thorium for breeding and helium for cooling.Nuclear power is the sum of fusion (D + T 14 MeV neutron+ 3.5 MeV alpha) power plus additional power from neutron-induced reactions in the blanket.     

Advanced Power Conversion Efficiency in Inventive Plasma for Hybrid Toroidal Reactor

Apex hybrid reactor has a good potential to utilize uranium and thorium fuels in the future. This toroidal reactor is a type of system that facilitates the occurrence of the nuclear fusion and fission events together. The most important feature of hybrid reactor is that the first wall surrounding the plasma is liquid. The advantages of utilizing a liquid wall are high power density capacity good power transformation productivity, the magnitude of the reactor’s operational duration, low failure percentage, short maintenance time and the inclusion of the system’s simple technology and material. The analysis has been made using the MCNP Monte Carlo code and ENDF/B–V–VI nuclear data. Around the fusion chamber, molten salts Flibe (LI₂BeF₄), lead–lithium (PbLi), Li–Sn, thin-lityum (Li₂₀Sn₈₀) have used as cooling materials. APEX reactor has modeled in the torus form by adding nuclear materials of low significance in the specified percentages between 0 and 12 % to the molten salts. In this study, the neutronic performance of the APEX fusion reactor using various molten salts has been investigated. The nuclear parameters of Apex reactor has been searched for Flibe (LI₂BeF₄) and Li–Sn, for blanket layers. In case of usage of the Flibe (LI₂BeF₄), PbLi, and thin-lityum (Li₂₀Sn₈₀) salt solutions at APEX toroidal reactors, fissile material production per source neutron, tritium production speed, total fission rate, energy reproduction factor has been calculated, the results obtained for both salt solutions are compared.     

Study of thorium–uranium based molten salt blanket in a fusion–fission hybrid reactor

Not only solid fuels, but also liquid fuels can be used for the fusion–fission symbiotic reactor blanket. The operational record of the molten salt reactor with F–Li–Be was very successful, so the F–Li–Be blanket was chosen for research. The molten salt has several features which are suited for the fusion–fission applications.The fuel material uranium and thorium were dissolved in the F–Li–Be molten salt. A combined program, COUPLE, was used for neutronics analysis of the molten salt blanket. Several cases have been calculated and compared. Not only the influence of the different fuels have been studied, but also the thickness of the molten salt, and the concentration of the ⁶Li in the molten salt.Preliminary studies indicate that when thorium–uranium–plutonium fuels were added into a F–Li–Be molten salt blanket and with a component of 71% LiF–2% BeF₂–13.5% ThF₄–8.5% UF₄–5% PuF₃, and also with the molten salt thickness of 40 cm and natural concentration of ⁶Li, the appropriate blanket energy multiplication factor and TBR can be obtained.The result shows that thorium–uranium molten salt can be used in the blanket of a fusion–fission symbiotic reactor. The research on the molten salt blanket must be valuable for the design of fusion–fission symbiotic reactor.     

Neutronic analysis of PROMETHEUS reactor fueled with various compounds of thorium and uranium

In this study, neutronic performance of the DT driven blanket in the PROMETHEUS-H (heavy ion) fueled with different fuels, namely, ThO₂, ThC, UO₂, UC, U₃Si₂ and UN is investigated. Helium is used as coolant, and SiC is used as cladding material to prevent fission products from contaminating coolant and direct contact fuel with coolant in the blanket. Calculations of neutronic data per DT fusion neutron are performed by using SCALE 4.3 Code. M (energy multiplication factor) changes from 1.480 to 2.097 depending on the fuel types in the blanket under resonance-effect. M reaches the highest value in the blanket fueled with UN. Therefore, the investigated reactor can produce substantial electricity in situ. UN has the highest value of ²³⁹Pu breeding capability among the uranium fuels whereas UO₂ has the lowest one. ²³⁹Pu production ratio changes from 0.119 to 0.169 according to the uranium fuel types, and ²³³U production values are 0.125 and 0.140 in the blanket fueled with ThO₂ and ThC under resonance-effect, respectively. Heat production per MW (D,T) fusion neutron load varies from 1.30 to 7.89 W/cm³ in the first row of fissile fuel breeding zone depending on the fuel types. Heat production attains the maximum value in the blanket fueled with UN. Values of TBR (tritium breeding ratio) being one of the most important parameters in a fusion reactor are greater than 1.05 for all type of fuels so that tritium self-sufficiency is maintained for DT fusion driver. Values of peak-to-average fission power density ratio, Γ, are in the range of 1.390 and ∼1.476 depending on the fuel types in the blanket. Values of neutron leakage out of the blanket for all fuels are quite low due to SiC reflector. The maximum neutron leakage is only ∼0.025. Consequently, for all cases, the investigated reactor has high neutronic performance and can produce substantial electricity in situ, fissile fuel and tritium required for (D,T) fusion reaction.     

Improvement of the Neutronic Performance of the PACER Fusion Concept Using Thorium Molten Salt with Reactor Grade Plutonium

In this study, the improvement of neutronic performance of a dual purpose modified PACER concept has been investigated. Flibe as the main constituent are fixed as 92% coolant. ThF₄ is mixed with increased mole-fractions of RG-PuF₄ starting by 0 mol % up to 1 mol %. TBR variations for all the investigated salts with respect to the RG-PuF₄ contents are computed. Tritium self-sufficiency is provided with the ThF₄ when the adding RG-PuF₄ content is higher than 0.75%. The energy multiplication of the blanket is increased as 70% with adding RG-PuF₄ contents to ThF₄. High quality fissile isotope ²³³U are produced with increasing RG-PuF₄. DPA and helium production increases with increased RG-PuF₄ content in molten salt. Radiation damage with dpa <1.7 and He <3.3 ppm after a plant operation period of 30 years will be well below the damage limit values.     

Characterization of the effects of continuous salt processing on the performance of molten salt fusion breeder blankets

Several continuous salt processing options are available for use in molten salt fusion breeder blanket designs: fluorination only, fluorination plus reductive extraction, and fluorination, plus reductive extraction, plus metal transfer. The effects of processing on blanket performance have been assessed for these three levels of processing and various equilibrium uranium concentrations in the salt. A one-dimensional model of the blanket was used in the neutronics analysis, which incorporated transport calculations with time-dependent isotope generation and depletion calculations. The method of salt processing was found to have little affect on the level of radioactivity, toxicity, or the thermal behavior of the salt during operation of the reactor. The processing rates necessary to maintain the desired uranium concentrations in the suppressed-fission environment were quite low, which permitted only long-lived species to be removed from the salt. The effects of the processing therefore became apparent only after the radioactivity due to the short-lived species diminished. The effects of the additional processing (reductive extraction and metal transfer) could be seen after approximately 1 year of decay, but were not significant at times closer to shutdown. The reduced radioactivity and corresponding heat deposition were thus of no consequence in accident or maintenance situations. Net fissile production in the Be/MS blanket concept at a fusion power level of 3000 MW at 70% capacity ranged from 5100 kg/year to 5170 kg/year for uranium concentrations of 0.11% and 1.0%²³³U in thorium, respectively, with fluorination-only processing. The addition of processing by reductive extraction resulted in 5125 kg/year for the 0.11%²³³U case and 5225 kg/year for the 1.0%²³³U case.     

Molten salts and nuclear energy production

Molten salts (fluorides or chlorides) were considered near the beginning of research into nuclear energy production. This was initially due to their advantageous physical and chemical properties: good heat transfer capacity, radiation insensitivity, high boiling point, wide range solubility for actinides. In addition it was realised that molten salts could be used in numerous situations: high temperature heat transfer, core coolants with solid fuels, liquid fuel in a molten salt reactor, solvents for spent nuclear solid fuel in the case of pyro-reprocessing and coolant and tritium production in the case of fusion. Molten salt reactors, one of the six innovative concepts chosen by the Generation IV international forum, are particularly interesting for use as either waste incinerators or thorium cycle systems. As the neutron balance in the thorium cycle is very tight, the possibility to perform online extraction of some fission product poisons from the salt is very attractive. In this article the most important questions that must be addressed to demonstrate the feasibility of molten salt reactor will be reviewed.     

Radiation Damage and Tritium Breeding Study in a Fusion Reactor Using a Liquid Wall of Various Thorium Molten Salts

A new magnetic fusion reactor design, called APEX uses a liquid wall between fusion plasma and solid first wall to reach high neutron wall loads and eliminate the replacement of the first wall structure during the reactor’s operation due to the radiation damage. In this paper, radiation damage behavior of the inboard and outboard first walls made of a ferritic steel, 9Cr-2WVTa, in the APEX blanket using various thorium molten salts, 75% LiF-25% ThF₄, 75% LiF-24% ThF₄-1% ²³³UF₄ and 75% LiF-23% ThF₄-2% ²³³UF₄ was investigated. Furthermore, tritium breeding potential of these salts in such a blanket was also examined. Computations were carried out using the code Scale 4.3 by solving Boltzmann neutron transport equation. Numerical results brought out that only the liquid wall containing the molten salt, 75% LiF-23% ThF₄-2% ²³³UF₄ and having a thickness of ≥38 cm would be suitable to be used in the APEX reactor with respect to radiation damage criteria for the first wall structures and tritium self-sufficiency for the (DT) fusion driver.     

棒状氢化锆慢化钍基熔盐堆中子学性能优化

氢化锆(ZrH)由于具有耐高温、抗辐照和慢化能力强等优点,是反应堆常用的慢化剂。本工作研究具有钍铀转换能自持运行和较低次锕系核素（MA）产量的ZrH慢化熔盐堆的堆芯物理设计方案。采用MOC程序分析了不同燃料盐对于启堆和增殖性能的影响,为提高钍铀转换性能,对堆芯结构和慢化棒设计进行了优化与分析。结果表明：当熔盐体积比处于0.5~0.9时,ZrH慢化剂可将临界所需要的²³³U浓度降低至2%附近;采用含增殖层设计与FLi燃料盐装载的ZrH慢化熔盐堆,50 a平均钍铀转换比（CR）可达到1.028;移动式ZrH慢化棒堆芯设计可实现38 a的自持运行,且堆芯寿期末的MA产量比慢化棒不移动条件下采用FLi燃料盐和FLiBe燃料盐的MA产量分别减少约43%和8%,低于相同能量输出下石墨慢化熔盐堆的MA产量。     

On the proliferation issues of a fusion fission fuel factory using a molten salt

The fusion fission fuel factory (FFFF) is a hybrid fusion fission reactor using a neutron source, which is in this case taken similar to the source of the Power Plant Conceptual Study - Water Cooled Lithium Lead (PPCS-A) design, for fissile material production instead of tritium self-sufficiency. As breeding blanket the first wall of the ITER design is attached to a molten salt zone, in which ThF₄ and UF₄ solute salts are transported by a LiF-BeF₂ solvent salt. For this blanket design, the fissile material is assessed in quantity and quality for both the Th-U and the U-Pu fuel cycle.The transport of the initial D-T fusion neutrons and the reaction rates in this breeding blanket are simulated with the Monte Carlo code MCNP4c2. The isotopic evolution of the actinides is calculated with the burn-up code ORIGEN-S.For the Th-U cycle the bred material output remains below 10 g/h with a ²³²U impurity level of 30 ppm, while for the U-Pu cycle supergrade material is produced at a rate up to 100 g/h.     

Investigating Neutronic Parameters of a Thorium Fusion Breeder with Recurrent Neural Networks

Artificial neural networks (ANNs) have recently been introduced to the nuclear engineering applications as a fast and flexible vehicle to modeling, simulation and optimization. In this paper, a new approach based on recurrent neural networks (RNNs) was presented for the neutronic parameters of a thorium fusion breeder. The results of the RNNs implemented for the tritium breeding ratio computation, energy multiplication factor and net ²³³U production in a thorium fusion breeder and the results available in the literature obtained by using Scale 4.3 were compared. The drawn conclusions confirmed that the proposed RNNs could provide an accurate computation of the tritium breeding ratio computation, the energy multiplication factor and the net ²³³U production of the thorium fusion breeder.     

Neutronic analysis of an inertial fusion energy breeder with SiCf/SiC

Neutronic performance of a blanket driven ICF (Inertial confinement fusion) neutron based on SiC_f/SiC composite material is investigated for fissile fuel breeding. The investigated blanket is fueled with ThO₂ and cooled with natural lithium or (LiF)₂BeF₂ or Li₁₇Pb₈₃ or ⁴He coolant. MCNP4B Code is used for calculations of neutronic data per DT neutron. Calculations have show that values of TBR (tritium breeding ratio) being one of the main neutronic paremeters of fusion reactors are greater than 1.05 in all type of coolant, and the breeder hybrid reactor is self-sufficient in the tritium required for the DT fusion driver. Calculations show that natural lithium coolant blanket has the highest TBR (1.298) and M (fusion energy multiplication) (2.235), Li₁₇Pb₈₃ coolant blanket has the highest FFBR (fissile fuel breeding ratio) (0.3489) and NNM (net neutron multiplication) (1.6337). ⁴He coolant blanket has also the best Γ (peek-to-average fission power density ratio) (1.711). Values of neutron leakage out of the blanket in all type of coolants are quite low due to SiC reflector and B₄C shielding.     

Preliminary study on feasibility of large and small water cooled thorium breeder reactor in equilibrium states

Fuel breeding is one of the essential performances for a self-sustaining reactor system which can maintains the fuel sustainability while the reactor produces energy and consumes the fissile materials during operation. Thorium cycle shows some advantageous on higher breeding characteristics in thermal neutron spectrum region as shown in the Shippingport reactor and molten salt breeder reactor (MSBR) project. In the present study, the feasibility of large and small water cooled thorium breeder reactors is investigated under equilibrium conditions where the reactors are fueled by ²³³U–Th oxide and they adopts light water coolant as moderator. The key properties such as required enrichment, breeding capability, and initial fissile inventory are evaluated. The conversion ratio and fissile inventory ratio (FIR) are used for evaluating breeding performance. The results show the feasibility of breeding for small and large reactors. The breeding performance increases with increasing power output and lower power density. The small reactor may achieve the breeding condition when the fuel pellets' power density of about 22.5 W/cm³ and burnup of about 20 GWd/t.     

Neutronic Analysis of the Laser Inertial Confinement Fusion–Fission Energy (LIFE) Engine Using Various Thorium Molten Salts

In this study, a neutronic performance of the Laser Inertial Confinement Fusion Fission Energy (LIFE) molten salt blanket is investigated. Neutronic calculations are performed by using XSDRNPM/SCALE5 codes in S₈–P₃ approximation. The thorium molten salt composition considered in this calculation is 75 % LiF—25 % ThF₄, 75 % LiF—24 % ThF₄—1 % ²³³UF₄, 75 % LiF—23 % ThF₄—2 % ²³³UF₄. Also, effects of the ⁶Li enrichment in molten salt are performed for all heavy metal salt. The radiation damage behaviors of SS-304 structural material with respect to higher fissionable fuel content and ⁶Li enrichment are computed. By higher fissionable fuel content in molten salt and with ⁶Li enrichment (20 and 50 %) in the coolant in form of 75 % LiF—23 % ThF₄—2 % ²³³UF₄, an initial TBR >1.05 can be realized. On the other hand, the 75 % LiF—25 % ThF₄ or 75 % LiF—24 % ThF₄—1 % ²³³UF₄ molten salt fuel as regards maintained tritium self-sufficiency is not suitable as regards improving neutronic performance of LIFE engine. A high quality fissile fuel with a rate of ~2,850 kg/year of ²³³U can be produced with 75 % LiF—23 % ThF₄—2 % ²³³UF₄. The energy multiplication factor is increased with high rate fission reactions of ²³³U occurring in the molten salt zone. Major damage mechanisms in SS-304 first wall stell have been computed as DPA = 48 and He = 132 appm per year with 75 % LiF—23 % ThF₄—2 % ²³³UF₄. This implies a replacement of the SS-304 first wall stell of every between 3 and 4 years.     

Investigations of neutronics of some (D,T)-driven experimental thorium hybrid blankets with actinide multipliers

An experimental fusion-fission hybrid research facility, known as LOTUS and located at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), is nearing completion. The first series of experiments are likely to commence in early 1984. A whole series of neutronic investigations are already underway to assess the feasibility of experimentally testing various blanket concepts. The following analysis centers around the use of actinide wastes as multiplier for blankets with thorium oxide fuel. The multipliers considered are UO₂, AmO₂, and CmO₂. The limited size of the experimental cavity coupled with the bulky, sealed 14 MeV (D, T)-neutron generator recommends the setting up of blankets in slab geometry. The analysis encompasses the corresponding confinement geometry configurations also for the sake of perspective. It is found that the neutronic performance of thorium oxide hybrid blankets improves radically both from the standpoint of fissile fuel production and energy multiplication in the presence of transplutonium actinides. It is also reported that the specific activities of tritium and²³³Pa are adequate for good counting statistics.     

Numerical Study on Effects of Fuel Mixture Fraction and Li-6 Enrichment on Neutronic Parameters of a Fusion–Fission Hybrid Reactor

This study presents the effects of mixture fractions of nuclear fuels (mixture of fissile–fertile fuels and mixture of two different fertile fuels) and ⁶Li enrichment on the neutronic parameters (the tritium breeding ratio, TBR, the fission rate, FR, the energy multiplication ratio, M, the fissile breeding rate, FBR, the neutron leakage out of blanket, L, and the peak-to-average fission power density ratio, Γ) of a deuterium–tritium (D–T) fusion neutron-driven hybrid blanket. Three different fertile fuels (²³²Th, ²³⁸U and ²⁴⁴Cm), and one fissile fuel (²³⁵U) were selected as the nuclear fuel. Two different coolants (pressurized helium and natural lithium) were used for the nuclear heat transfer out of the fuel zone (FZ). The Boltzmann transport equation was solved numerically for obtaining the neutronic parameters with the help of the neutron transport code XSDRNPM/SCALE4.4a. In addition, these calculations were performed by also using the MCNP4B code. The sub-limits of the mixture fractions and ⁶Li enrichment were determined for the tritium self-sufficiency. The considered hybrid reactor can be operated in a self-sufficiency mode in the cases with the fuel mixtures mixed with a fraction of equal to or greater than these sub-limits. Furthermore, the numerical results show that the fissile fuel breeding and fission potentials of the blankets with the helium coolant are higher than with the lithium coolant.     

Performance of the gas turbine-modular helium reactor fuelled with different types of fertile TRISO particles

Preliminary studies have been performed on operation of the gas turbine-modular helium reactor (GT-MHR) with a thorium based fuel. The major options for a thorium fuel are a mixture with light water reactors spent fuel, mixture with military plutonium or with with fissile isotopes of uranium. Consequently, we assumed three models of the fuel containing a mixture of thorium with ²³⁹Pu, ²³³U or ²³⁵U in TRISO particles with a different kernel radius keeping constant the packing fraction at the level of 37.5%, which corresponds to the current compacting process limit. In order to allow thorium to act as a breeder of fissile uranium and ensure conditions for a self-sustaining fission chain, the fresh fuel must contain a certain quantity of fissile isotope at beginning of life; we refer to the initial fissile nuclide as triggering isotope. The small capture cross-section of ²³²Th in the thermal neutron energy range, compared to the fission one of the common fissile isotopes (²³⁹Pu, ²³³U and ²³⁵U), requires a quantity of thorium 25–30 times greater than that one of the triggering isotope in order to equilibrate the reaction rates. At the same time, the amount of the triggering isotope must be enough to set the criticality condition of the reactor. These two conditions must be simultaneously satisfied. The necessity of a large mass of fuel forces to utilize TRISO particles with a large radius of the kernel, 300 μm. Moreover, in order to improve the neutron economics, a fuel cycle based on thorium requires a low capture to fission ratio of the triggering isotope. Amid the common fissile isotopes, ²³³U, ²³⁵U and ²³⁹Pu, we have found that only the uranium nuclides have shown to have the suitable neutronic features to enable the GT-MHR to work on a fuel based on thorium.     

RETRACTED ARTICLE: The Evaluation of Reactor Performance by using Flibe and Flinabe Molten Salts in the APEX Hybrid Reactor

The modeling of APEX hybrid reactor, produced by using ARIES-RS hybrid reactor technology, has been performed by using the MCNP-4B computer code and ENDF/B-V-VI nuclear data. Around the fusion chamber, molten salts Flibe (Li₂BeF₄) and Flinabe (LiNaBeF₄) were used as cooling materials. APEX reactor was modeled in the torus form by adding nuclear materials of low significance in the specified percentages between percent 0–12 to the molten salts. The result of the study indicated that fissile material production, UF₄ and ThF₄ heavy metal salt increased nearly at the same percentage and it was observed that the percentage of it was practically the same in both materials. In order for the hybrid reactor to work itself in terms of tritium, TBR (tritium breeding ratio) should be lower than 1.05. When flibe molten salt was utilized in the APEX hybrid reactor, TBR was calculated as >1, 22 and when flinabe molten salt was used, TBR was calculated as >1.06.     

聚变裂变混合堆钍基增殖锕系元素嬗变包层中子学初步研究

聚变裂变混合堆比纯聚变堆在工程及技术方面要求低,且在产生核燃料、嬗变长寿命核废料以及固有安全性方面具有一定优势,因此,越来越受到人们的重视。增殖包层是混合堆系统的关键部件,已有的包层研究基本上是基于较成熟的铀-钚燃料循环技术。针对我国铀资源相对较少而钍资源较丰富的现状,本文就一种新型的钍基燃料增殖锕系元素嬗变包层进行了初步的中子学研究,利用一维离散纵标法燃耗程序BISONC以及Monte-Carlo粒子输运程序MCNP,对包层的关键核参数,诸如氚增殖比、少量锕系元素的嬗变质量、233U产量以及热功率等,进行了较详细的计算分析。计算结果表明,生成的核燃料233U的富集度可达到3.65%,从而满足压水堆燃料富集度要求。分析结果为下一步的包层优化设计提供了依据。