Abstract
Afterheat and decay heat removal systems will be important safety features in fusion and fusion—fission hybrid power plants. Decay heat removal considerations for fission power reactors are reviewed and design criteria discussed. Aspects of fusion and fusion—fission afterheat and decay heat removal are also reviewed. It was found that afterheat thermal loads in fusion power reactors are a factor of 5 to 10 less than decay heat loads in fission power plants. However, they remain relatively constant over time periods of interest (out to a year in designs employing stainless steel), as compared to fission plants, whose decay heat loads drop an order of magnitude during the first day. Deterministic criteria for afterheat removal are presented. Although based upon fission reactor experience, they are modified to account for these differences. A probabilistic criterion was developed which is based on public health and economic considerations. A goal of 15 × 10 −6 per reactor year was established for afterheat removal in fusion. For fusion—fission hybrid reactors, a goal ranging between 6 × 10 −6 and 30 × 10 −6 per reactor year was established. The upper limit corresponds to the recent NRC safety goal guideline for core melt frequency (1 × 10 −4/year), which has been suggested for the decay heat removal function in Pressurized Water Reactors. These goals are to be applied to a reliability analysis where major uncertainties can be quantified.
Published Version
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