Assessment of the Possible Lay-Out Influence on the HCLL-TBM Nuclear Response

Abstract

The Department of Nuclear Engineering of the University of Palermo (DIN) was involved, since several years, in the study of the nuclear response of the helium-cooled lithium lead (HCLL) test blanket module (TBM) which will be tested in ITER. In this framework a research campaign was performed, at the DIN, to asses the nuclear response of the TBM in a toroidal lay-out, with the specific aim to investigate the possible lay-out influence on the module nuclear behaviour by comparing the results obtained with those presented in a similar previous work focussed on the most recent design of the poloidal HCLL-TBM. A computational approach based on the Monte Carlo method was followed and a realistic 3D heterogeneous model of the HCLL-TBM in a toroidal lay-out was set-up. The main features of the HCLL-TBM nuclear response were determined, such as power deposited by neutrons and photons and tritium production rate with the spatial distributions of their volumetric densities. Structural material damage through DPA and He and H gas production rates were assessed too. The results obtained showed that, as expected, the orientation slightly influences the HCLL-TBM nuclear behaviour mainly due to the different relative position of the module with respect to the D-T plasma.