Current status of design and analysis of Korean Helium-Cooled Solid Breeder Test Blanket Module

Abstract

It is known that the test of the capability of tritium self-sufficiency and the extraction of high-grade heat using tritium breeding blanket concepts is one of the major ITER missions. This requires the development of test blanket modules based on a corresponding DEMO blanket design, despite the differences in operating conditions between DEMO and ITER. Two blanket concepts such as a Helium-Cooled Solid Breeder (HCSB) blanket and a Helium-Cooled Molten Lithium (HCML) blanket are being considered as Korean Test Blanket Module (TBM) for ITER with the aim for verifying the capability of the breeding blanket design and manufacturability. In this paper, the current status of the design and analysis for the HCSB TBM is described. The key features of the design include the use of graphite neutron reflectors to reduce the amount of beryllium multiplier. Major analyses have been executed in order to optimize the design. The results of nuclear and thermo-hydraulic analysis show that the design parameters and requirements are satisfied. Also, the safety analysis results show that the design of the TBM system is sufficient to endure several accident events.