Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T05:29:29.481Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Parametric design study of a nuclear-pumped laser-driven inertial confinement fusion power plant

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 March 2009

Denis E. Beller ,
John M. Jacobson ,
George H. Miley ,
Maria Petra  and
Yasser Shaban
Denis E. Beller
Affiliation:
Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433
John M. Jacobson
Affiliation:
Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson AFB, OH 45433
George H. Miley
Affiliation:
Fusion Studies Laboratory, University of Illinois Urbana, IL 61801
Maria Petra
Affiliation:
Fusion Studies Laboratory, University of Illinois Urbana, IL 61801
Yasser Shaban
Affiliation:
Fusion Studies Laboratory, University of Illinois Urbana, IL 61801
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In an earlier preliminary design study, we proposed a novel nuclear-pumped laser-driven (NPL) inertial confinement fusion (ICF) power reactor that represents an important variation on the “neutron feedback” concept for ICF. This NPL-driven ICF concept also included an advanced, DT-seeded, D3He-fueled pellet and magnetic protection of the first wall of the reactor chamber. Advantages that were demonstrated for this approach included increased efficiency for laser-to-target energy coupling, increased efficiency for thermalto-electric energy conversion, and reduced neutron activation and waste. The coupling efficiency is enhanced because a nuclear-pumped flashlamp is directly pumped by fission fragments from uranium micropellets within the lamp medium. The thermal conversion efficiency is greater because a large fraction of the ICF pellet&s fusion yield is in charged Finally, the fraction of the fusion yield carried by neutrons is significantly reduced in comparison with pure D-T-fueled pellets; thus, neutron-induced activity in the first wall is decreased and safety is increased. The initial study indicated these factors could result in a required driver energy of 5 MJ (vice 10 MJ currently projected) and a pellet gain of only 50 (vice 100 currently projected) for a feasible l,000-MWe power reactor operating with approximately six pellets per second. The current study includes a refined analysis of an NPL-driven ICF power reactor of this type. A cylindrical design for the fission/NPL blanket is selected as a “natural” geometry for pumping the NPL. Required enrichments and criticalities are then predicted for the multiplication of the fusion neutron yield needed to pump the NPL. Based upon these results, we report a more detailed parametric study of the efficiencies for converting neutron, X-ray, and plasma yields from advanced ICF pellets into electrical and optical energy flows required in this concept. We also examined breeding tritium in a lithium blanket layer. Results from these studies help define topics and parameter spaces for further research on this unique reactor concept.

Type
Research Article
Information
Laser and Particle Beams , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , September 1993 , pp. 537 - 548
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Beller, D.E. et al. 1989 Fusion Tech. 15, 772.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emmett, M.B. 1975 ORNL-4972 (Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, TN); also CCC-203D.Google Scholar
Gu, G. et al. 1987 In Transactions of the Fourth Symposium on Space Nuclear Power Systems, CONF-870102, Albuquerque, NM, p. 143.Google Scholar
McArthur, D.A. 1991 In Encyclopedia of Lasers and Optical Technology, Meyers, R.A., ed. (Academic Press, San Diego, CA) p. 385.Google Scholar
Miley, G.H. 1984 Atomkern 45, 14.Google Scholar
Miley, G.H. 1988 Fusion Studies Laboratory Report FSL-239 (University of Illinois, Urbana, IL).Google Scholar
Schmidt, T.R. & McArthur, D.A. 1976 SAND-76 0139 (Sandia National Laboratory, Sandia, NM).Google Scholar
Shiba, T. et al. 1988 Nucl. Fusion 28, 4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar