Search results for "Blank"
showing 10 items of 179 documents
Studies on Flat Sandwich-type Self-Powered Detectors for Flux Measurements in ITER Test Blanket Modules
2018
Neutron and gamma flux measurements in designated positions in the test blanket modules (TBM) of ITER will be important tasks during ITER’s campaigns. As part of the ongoing task on development of nuclear instrumentation for application in European ITER TBMs, experimental investigations on self-powered detectors (SPD) are undertaken. This paper reports the findings of neutron and photon irradiation tests performed with a test SPD in flat sandwich-like geometry. Whereas both neutrons and gammas can be detected with appropriate optimization of geometries, materials and sizes of the components, the present sandwich-like design is more sensitive to gammas than 14 MeV neutrons. Range of SPD curr…
Identification of blanket design points using an integrated multi-physics approach
2017
Abstract The breeding blanket (BB) is one of the key components for a fusion reactor. It is expected to sustain and remove considerable heat loads due to the heat flux coming from the plasma and the nuclear power deposited by the fusion neutrons. In the design of the BB, the engineering requirements of nuclear, material and safety kind are involved. In the European DEMO project, several efforts are dedicated to the development of an integrated simulation-design tool able to perform a multi-physics analysis, allowing the characterisation of BB design points which are consistent from the neutronic, thermal-hydraulic and thermo-mechanical point of view. Furthermore, at Karlsruhe Institute of T…
Integrated design of breeding blanket and ancillary systems related to the use of helium or water as a coolant and impact on the overall plant design
2021
Currently, for the EU DEMO, two Breeding Blankets (BBs) have been selected as potential candidates for the integration in the reactor. They are the Water Cooled Lithium Lead and the Helium Cooled Pebble Bed BB concepts. The two BB variants together with the associated ancillary systems drive the design of the overall plant. Therefore, a holistic investigation of integration issues derived by the BB and the installation of its ancillary systems has been performed. The issues related to the water activation due to the 16N and 17N isotopes and the impact on the primary heat transfer systems have been investigated providing guidelines and dedicated solution for the integration of safety devices…
The DEMO water-cooled lead–lithium breeding blanket: design status at the end of the pre-conceptual design phase
2021
The Water-Cooled Lead–Lithium Breeding Blanket (WCLL BB) is one of the two blanket concept candidates to become the driver blanket of the EU-DEMO reactor. The design was enacted with a holistic approach. The influence that neutronics, thermal-hydraulics (TH), thermo-mechanics (TM) and magneto-hydro-dynamics (MHD) may have on the design were considered at the same time. This new approach allowed for the design team to create a WCLL BB layout that is able to comply with different foreseen requirements in terms of integration, tritium self-sufficiency, and TH and TM needs. In this paper, the rationale behind the design choices and the main characteristics of the WCLL BB needed for the EU-DEMO …
Structural assessment of a whole toroidal sector of the HELIAS 5-B breeding blanket
2021
Abstract The European roadmap for the realization of fusion energy considers the stellarator line as a possible long-term alternative to a tokamak DEMO. In this context, from the plasma physics standpoint, the most promising option is a five-field period power plant called HELIcal-axis Advanced Stellarator (HELIAS) 5-B. In order to allow the electricity production, the HELIAS 5-B reactor must be endowed with a breeding blanket (BB). Hence, in this paper, the advancements in the HELIAS 5-B BB design are reported. In particular, the structural assessment of a whole BB period, extending along toroidal direction for 72 °, is depicted. A geometric configuration encompassing dummy BB segments has…
Preliminary structural assessment of the HELIAS 5-B breeding blanket
2019
Abstract The European Roadmap to the realisation of fusion energy, carried out by the EUROfusion consortium, considers the stellarator concept as a possible long-term alternative to a tokamak fusion power plant. To this purpose a pivotal issue is the design of a HELIcal-axis Advanced Stellarator (HELIAS) machine equipped with a tritium Breeding Blanket (BB), considering the achievements and the design experience acquired in the pre-conceptual design phase of the tokamak DEMO BB. Therefore, within the framework of EUROfusion Work Package S2 R&D activity, a research campaign has been launched at KIT. The scope of the research has been the determination of a preliminary BB segmentation scheme …
Validation of Multi-Physics Integrated Procedure for the HCPB Breeding Blanket
2019
The wide range of requirements and constraints involved in the design of nuclear components for fusion reactors makes the development of multi-physics analysis procedures of utmost importance. In the framework of the European DEMO project, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) is dedicating several efforts to the development of a multi-physics analysis tool allowing the characterization of breeding blanket design points which are consistent from the neutronic, thermal-hydraulic and thermal-mechanical points of view. In particular, a procedure developed at KIT is characterized by the implementation of analysis software only. A preliminary step for the validation of such a procedure ha…
Preliminary thermal optimization and investigation of the overall structural behaviour of the EU-DEMO water-cooled lead lithium left outboard blanket…
2022
The conceptual design phase of the EU-DEMO reactor has been recently launched, with the aim of evolving the DEMO pre-conceptual layout towards a more robust and articulated geometric configuration able to cope with most of the design requirements and to show further margins for the passing of the current potential show-stoppers. Hence, the achievement of the conceptual design of the Water-Cooled Lead Lithium Breeding Blanket (WCLL BB) is one of the milestones the EUROfusion consortium aims to achieve in the close future. To this purpose, within the framework of the research activities promoted by EUROfusion, a research campaign has been launched at the University of Palermo, in close cooper…
Experimental tests on Li-ceramic breeders for the helium cooled pebble bed (HCPB) blanket design
2003
The Helium Cooled Pebble Bed (HCPB) Test Blanket Module (TBM) to be tested in ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) Reactor foresees the utilization of Lithiate ceramics as Tritium breeder in form of pebble beds. Since 1998, ENEA has launched many experimental activities for the evaluation of the breeder thermomechanics and the interaction between the pebble beds and the prismatic steel containment walls. Main objectives of these activities are the measurement of the pebble bed effective thermal conductivity, the wall heat transfer coefficient, the pressure loads and deformations on the lateral walls and their dependency from the mechanical constraints. The paper presents …
Development of helium coolant DEMO first wall model for SYCOMORE system code based on HCLL concept
2018
Abstract The conceptual design of the demonstration fusion power reactor, known as DEMO, is ongoing and several reactor configurations have to be investigated by exploring different design parameters. For these reasons, within the European framework, systems codes like SYCOMORE (SYstem COde for MOdelling tokamak REactor) have been developed. SYCOMORE includes several specific modules, one of which is aimed to define a suitable design of the helium breeding blanket. The research activity has been devoted to improve the method to define automatically the First Wall design starting from thermal-hydraulic and thermo-mechanical considerations, using analytical design formulae and, also, taking i…