Numerical research on the coupling optimization design rule of the CFETR HCSB blanket using the NTCOC code

Abstract

In this study, a three-step approach of ordinal 3D-1D&2D-3D is independently proposed to derive a coupling optimization design rule of the Chinese Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR) helium cooled solid breeder (HCSB) blanket. Firstly, the three dimensional (3D) neutronics model of CFETR is built with all of the 15 blanket modules adopting the original radial build arrangement parameters. Based on this model, both the neutron wall loading (NWL), which will serve as the normalization factors for the following local neutronics calculations, and the tritium breeding ratio (TBR) distributions on each blanket module are obtained. Secondly, the radial build arrangements of all the 7 inboard and the 8 outboard blanket modules in an 11.25° toroidal CFETR sector are optimized by taking both the tritium breeding and thermal performances into account as the optimization objectives. NTCOC, a Neutronics/Thermal-hydraulic Coupling Optimization Code, which has been independently developed by Xi’an Jiaotong University for accelerating the radial build design and optimization of the fusion reactor HCSB blanket concept with adopting the simplified 1D neutronics and 2D thermal-hydraulic models, is used for these work. Thirdly, based on the final optimized schemes of all the blanket modules, a comprehensive research on the coupling optimization design rule of the CFETR HCSB blanket is performed in-depth and a coupling optimization design integration approach has been finally summarized. Finally, the 3D CFETR neutronics model is updated by replacing all of the original blanket radial build arrangement parameters with the final optimized schemes. The calculation results show that after the radial optimizations, the total TBR of all the 15 blanket modules has increased from the previous 1.092–1.274, which can well meet the self-sufficiency tritium breeding requirement of CFETR.