Neutronics Analysis of the Stellarator-Type Fusion–Fission Hybrid Reactor Using Mesh Simplification

Abstract

The stellarator plasma device has been widely studied as one of the candidate solutions paralleling the ITER project, and its coupling with a fission blanket can bring benefits promoting the development of fusion technology with stable energy production simultaneously. However, the neutronics optimization design for the stellarator-type Fusion-Fission Hybrid Reactor (FFHR) is extremely complex since the helical structure with a large amount of spline curved surfaces cannot be exactly described in most of the Monte Carlo simulation processes, and the preliminary design stage has also been a time-consuming and error-prone task with the requirements frequently changing. In this context, the mesh-oriented optimized method has been considered for the parametric modeling analysis in order to get the ideal structure without redundant topologic information, and the corresponding conversion process from computer-aided design (CAD) to Monte Carlo simulation has been fulfilled by the CAD-PSFO code. Moreover, the liquid type of thorium-uranium fuels has been selected as the solutes dissolve in the molten salt blanket with its multilayer structure, where the burnup feature and neutronics properties have been analyzed and explained with the help of the OMCB code. The stellarator-type FFHR has been designed as a compact multifunctional device that can incinerate plutonium and transmute the minor actinide isotopes with tritium self-sufficiency and the high-energy multiplication factor.

Keywords:

• Stellarator-type FFHR
• mesh oriented
• computer-aided design
• burnup, transmutation

Acknowledgments

This work is jointly supported by the funds of “Optimization design of fuel management and refueling scheme based on accelerator driven subcritical system” (E023351Y), “The main equipment, key materials, technology research, development and application of the fourth generation lead based fast reactor” (Y9391601), and “Research on the scheme and key technology of the offshore fixed multipurpose small lead cooled reactor with full automatic circulation” (2020YFB1902100).