Tritium breeding performance of a self-cooled water based blanket

A major issue in the design of fusion reactor blankets is the trade-off between tritium breeding and other blanket design requirements. While net breeding is required, the blanket design should also ensure adequate heat removal, efficient power production and sufficient shielding. A novel aqueous self-cooled blanket concept (ASCB) based on lithium compounds dissolved in water has been proposed and analyzed using one-dimensional neutronics calculations. This concept utilizes zircaloy for the structural material and a vanadium alloy for the first wall. Light water as well as heavy water systems lead to an acceptable design with respect to tritium breeding. One-dimensional tritium breeding ratios in the range 1.1–1.2 seem feasible for the proposed concept. Contrary to conventional blanket designs, the 3-D tritium breeding ratio is expected to be comparable to the 1-D performance because of the additional breeding in water cooled duct shields and high heat-flux components. The resulting design is simple, utilizes materials with a large data base, does not require additional neutron multiplying materials, and satisfies the commonly proposed criteria for a fusion blanket.