Speaker
Jonathan Shimwell
(Culham Centre for Fusion Energy)
Description
The Helium Cooled Pebble Bed (HCPB) breeder blanket is being developed as part of the European Fusion Programme. Part of the programme is to investigate blanket modules relevant for future demonstration fusion power plants. This paper presents fluid dynamic, thermomechanical and neutronic analyses of the helium cooled pebble bed with an alternative neutron multiplier, Be12Ti which is incorporated into the design replacing current Be multiplier. Potential benefits of switching to Be12Ti are reduced swelling and higher temperature limits. Alterations to the MCNP blanket geometry model were made to optimise the tritium production with the new multiplier. Neutronics imulations were performed using MCNP 6.1.1 unstructured mesh geometry models to find volumetric heat loads. Heat load were subsequently used as inputs directly on to a finite element in order to perform multiphysics engineering analysis. This paper provides insight, supported by neutronic and engineering analysis, on the validity of the design and comments on some of the potential advantages and disadvantages of using Be12Ti in the HCPB. Specific areas covered include tritium production, heat generation, material temperature limits and stresses.
Co-authors
Jonathan Shimwell
(Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, Culham Science Centre, Abingdon, OX14 3DB, United Kingdom)
Pereslavtsev Pavel
(Institute for Neutron Physics and Reactor Technology (INR), Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany)
Tim Eade
(Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, Culham Science Centre, Abingdon, OX14 3DB, United Kingdom)
Tom Barrett
(Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, Culham Science Centre, Abingdon, OX14 3DB, United Kingdom)
