Assessment of First Wall and Blanket Options with the Use of Liquid Breeder

Abstract

As candidate blanket concepts for a U.S. advanced reactor power plant design, with consideration of the time frame for ITER development, we assessed first wall and blanket design concepts based on the use of reduced activation ferritic steel as structural material and liquid breeder as the coolant and tritium breeder. The liquid breeder choice includes the conventional molten salt Li₂BeF₄ and the low melting point molten salts such as LiBeF₃ and LiNaBeF₄ (FLiNaBe). Both self-cooled and dual coolant molten salt options were evaluated. We have also included the dual coolant leadeutectic Pb-17Li design in our assessment. We take advantage of the molten salt low electrical and thermal conductivity to minimize impacts from the MHD effect and the heat losses from the breeder to the actively cooled steel structure. For the Pb-17Li breeder we employ flow channel inserts of SiC_f/SiC composite with low electrical and thermal conductivity to perform respective insulation functions. We performed preliminary assessments of these design options in the areas of neutronics, thermal-hydraulics, safety, and power conversion system. Status of the R&D items of selected high performance blanket concepts is reported. Results from this study will form the technical basis for the formulation of the U.S. ITER test module program and corresponding test plan.