The logic behind thick, liquid-walled, fusion concepts

Abstract

It may be possible to surround the region where fusion reactions are taking place with a neutronically thick liquid blanket which has penetrations that allow only a few tenths of a percent of the neutrons to leak out. Even these neutrons can be attenuated by adding an accurately placed liquid or solid near the target to shadow-shield the beam ports from line-of-sight neutrons. The logic of such designs is discussed and their evolution is described with examples applied to both magnetic and inertial fusion (HYLIFE-II). These designs with liquid protection are self-healing when exposed to pulsed loading, and have a number of advantages over the usual designs with solid first walls. For example, the liquid-protected solid components will last the life of the plant, and therefore the capacity factor is estimated to be approximately 10% higher than for the non-liquid-walled blankets, because no blanket replacement shutdowns are required. The component replacement, operations, and maintenance costs might be half the usual value because no blanket change-out costs or accompanying facilities are required. These combined savings might lower the cost of electricity by 20%. Nuclear-grade construction should not be needed, largely because the liquid attenuates neutrons and results in less activation of materials. Upon decommissioning, the reactor materials should qualify for disposal by shallow burial even when constructed of ordinary 304 stainless steel. The need for a high-intensity 14-MeV neutron test facility to develop first-wall materials is avoided or greatly reduced, saving billions of development dollars. Flowing molten Li, the molten salt Flibe (Li 2BeF 4), and molten Li 17Pb 83 have been considered. An advantage of molten salt is that it will not burn and has a low tritium solubility and therefore low tritium inventory.