Neutronics Evaluation of Lithium-Based Ternary Alloys in IFE Blankets [electronic resource].

Published:: Washington, D.C. : United States. Dept. of Energy, 2014.
Oak Ridge, Tenn. : Distributed by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Dept. of Energy
Physical Description:: PDF-file: 39 pages; size: 2.1 Mbytes
Additional Creators:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, United States. Department of Energy, and United States. Department of Energy. Office of Scientific and Technical Information

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Summary:

Pre-conceptual fusion blanket designs require research and development to reflect important proposed changes in the design of essential systems, and the new challenges they impose on related fuel cycle systems. One attractive feature of using liquid lithium as the breeder and coolant is that it has very high tritium solubility and results in very low levels of tritium permeation throughout the facility infrastructure. However, lithium metal vigorously reacts with air and water and presents plant safety concerns. If the chemical reactivity of lithium could be overcome, the result would have a profound impact on fusion energy and associated safety basis. The overriding goal of this project is to develop a lithium-based alloy that maintains beneficial properties of lithium (e.g. high tritium breeding and solubility) while reducing overall flammability concerns. To minimize the number of alloy combinations that must be explored, only those alloys that meet certain nuclear performance metrics will be considered for subsequent thermodynamic study. The specific scope of this study is to evaluate the neutronics performance of lithium-based alloys in the blanket of an inertial confinement fusion (ICF) engine. The results of this study will inform the development of lithium alloys that would guarantee acceptable neutronics performance while mitigating the chemical reactivity issues of pure lithium.

Report Numbers:

E 1.99:llnl-tr--664710
llnl-tr--664710

Subject(s):

Note:

Published through SciTech Connect.
11/20/2014.
"llnl-tr--664710"
Jolodosky, A.; Fratoni, M.

Funding Information:

AC52-07NA27344

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