• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.52 no.2
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• pp.323-327
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• 2020

In this study, the neutronic calculation to obtain tritium breeding ratio (TBR) in a deuterium-tritium (D-T) fusion power reactor using Monte Carlo MCNPX is done. In addition, by using COMSOL software, an efficient cooling system is designed. In the proposed design, it is adequate to enrich up to 40% ⁶Li. Total tritium breeding ratio of 1.12 is achieved. The temperature of helium as coolant gas never exceed 687℃. As regards the tolerable temperature of beryllium (650℃), the design of blanket module is done in the way that beryllium temperature never exceed 600℃. The main feature of this design indicates the temperature of helium coolant is higher than other proposed models for blanket module, therefore power of electricity generation will increase.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.163-168
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• 2016

Korea has been developing nuclear fusion fuel storage and delivery system (SDS) technologies including a basic scientific study on hydrogen storage. To develop nuclear fusion technology, it is necessary to store and supply hydrogen isotopes needed for Tokamak operation. SDS is used for storing hydrogen isotopes as a metal hydride form. The rapid hydriding of tritium is very important not only for safety reasons but also for the economic design and operation of the SDS. In this study, we designed and fabricated a medium-scale getter bed of depleted uranium (DU). The hydriding of DU has been measured by varying the initial temperature ($100-300^{\circ}C$) of the DU getter bed to investigate the influence of the cooling temperature. Furthermore, we analyzed the effect of a helium blanket on the hydriding performance with 0 - 12% helium content in hydrogen.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Safety
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.14-19
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• 2012

The Helium cooled ceramic reflector(HCCR) test blanket module(TBM) has been designed and developed to participate the ITER(International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) test blanket program in Korea. The TBM was one of the main objectives for developing ITER for proving the tritium self-sufficiency and the heat transfers to produce the electricity with the breeding blanket concept. Among the TBM components, the first wall(FW) was the most important component in safety since it was directly faced a high level of a heat and fast neutrons from the plasma side and could protect the others components inside TBM. In this paper, the FW has been designed through the thermo-mechanical analysis considering ITER operation conditions. With the developed simple models, the stress limit analysis based on RCC-MR code which is the nuclear power plant design codes in France was evaluated for the allowable design criteria. The results showed that the designed FW model satisfied $1.5S_m$ or $3S_m$ of the allowable stress($S_m$) in RCC-MR code at the maximum stress region in the FW.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2006.08a
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• pp.215-215
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• 2006

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.11
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• pp.4274-4281
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• 2023

Blanket is of vital importance for engineering application of the fusion reactor. Nuclear heat deposition in materials is the main heat source in blanket structure. In this paper, the three-dimensional method for thermal-hydraulics/neutronics coupling analysis is developed and applied for the full-scale module of the helium-cooled ceramic breeder tritium breeding blanket (HCCB TBB) designed for China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR). The explicit coupling scheme is used to support data transfer for coupling analysis based on cell-to-cell mapping method. The coupling algorithm is realized by the user-defined function compiled in Fluent. The three-dimensional model is established, and then the coupling analysis is performed using the paralleled Coupling Analysis of Thermal-hydraulics and Neutronics Interface Code (CATNIC). The results reveal the relatively small influence of the coupling analysis compared to the traditional method using the radial fitting function of internal heat source. However, the coupling analysis method is quite important considering the nonuniform distribution of the neutron wall loading (NWL) along the poloidal direction. Finally, the structure optimization of the blanket is carried out using the coupling method to satisfy the thermal requirement of all materials. The nonlinear effect between thermal-hydraulics and neutronics is found during the blanket structure optimization, and the tritium production performance is slightly reduced after optimization. Such an adverse effect should be thoroughly evaluated in the future work.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.927-938
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• 2023

The blanket plays an important role in fusion reactor and stands extremely high thermal and electromagnetic loads during operation situation and plasma disruption event, brings the need for precise thermal and electromagnetic analysis. Since the thermal field and EM field interact with each other nonlinearly, we develop a method of electromagnetic-thermal two-way coupling by using finite element software COMSOL. The coupling analyses of blanket under steady state and MD event are implemented and the results are analyzed. For steady state, the influences of coupling effects are relatively small but still recommended to be considered for a high precision analysis. The influence of thermal field on EM field can't be ignored under MD events. The variation of force density could cause a significant change in stress in certain parts of blanket. The influence of Joule heat during MD event is negligible, yet the potential temperature rise caused by induced current after MD event still needs to be researched.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.8
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• pp.2564-2569
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• 2021

The neutronic analysis of Helium Cooled Ceramic Reflector (HCCR) breeding blankets has been performed using the 3D Monte Carlo code MCNPX and ENDF nuclear data library. This study aims to reduce ⁶Li percentage in the breeder zones as much as possible ensuring tritium self-sufficiency. This work is devoted to investigating the effect of ⁶Li percentage on the HCCR breeding blanket's neutronic parameters, such as neutron flux and spectrum, Tritium Breeding Ratio (TBR), nuclear power density, and energy multiplication factor. In the ceramic breeders at the saturated thickness, increasing the enrichment of ⁶Li reduces its share in the tritium production. Therefore, ceramic breeders typically use lower enriched Li from 30% to 60%. The investigation of neutronic analysis in the suggested geometry shows that using 60% ⁶Li in Li₂TiO₃ can yield acceptable TBR and energy deposition results, which would be economically feasible.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.401-422
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• 2005

We review here research and development progress achieved in US Plasma Chamber technology roughly over the last decade. In particular, we focus on two major programs carried out in the US: the APEX project (1998-2003) and the US ITER TBM activities (2003-present). The APEX project grew out of the US fusion program emphasis in the late 1990s on more fundamental science and innovation. APEX was commissioned to investigate novel technology concepts for achieving high power density and high temperature reactor coolants. In particular, the idea of liquid walls and the related research is described here, with some detailed examples of liquid metal and molten salt magnetohydrodynamic and free surface effects on flow control and heat transfer. The ongoing US ITER Test Blanket Module (TBM) program is also described, where the current first wall/blanket concepts being considered are the dual coolant lead lithium concept and the solid breeder helium cooled concepts, both using ferritic steel structures. The research described for these concepts includes both thermofluid MHD issues for the liquid metal coolant in the DCLL, and thermomechanical issues for ceramic breeder packed pebble beds in the solid breeder concept. Finally, future directions for ongoing research in these areas are described.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
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• 2010.08a
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• pp.324-324
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• 2010

핵융합의 고체형 증식(Helium Cooled Solid Breeder : HCSB) 블랑켓(Blanket Module)은 삼중수소 증식을 위해서 Li4SiO4, Li2TiO3, Li2O 및 Li2ZrO3 등의 페블이 고려되고 있다. 이러한 페블을 제조하기 위해서는 먼저 각각의 분말 제조가 선행되어야 한다. 한국의 Test Blanket Module(TBM)은 Li4SiO4 페블을 개발을 개발하여 사용할 예정이고 옵션으로 Li2TiO3 페블을 개발하는 것으로 되어 있다. Li4SiO4 페블을 개발하기 위해서 먼저 분말합성이 필수적이다. Li4SiO4 분말을 합성에 하기 위해서는 Lithium 금속염과 실리카 졸을 용매 및 폴리머 캐리어로서의 두 가지 기능을 하는 에틸렌글리콜에 첨가한 후 가열하여 완전히 용해시킨 후 혼합 용액을 건조시켜 겔형의 전구체를 제조한다. 이를 하소한 후 결정화시켜 Silicate 분말을 얻는데 이때의 건조, 하소 및 결정화 온도의 조건에 따른 분말의 크기 및 특성이 각각 다르다. 즉, 바인더 물질의 비율과 합성온도에 따라 특성이 약간씩 다른 분말을 얻을 수 있었다. 이렇게 얻어진 Silicate 분말은 지르코니아 볼을 이용하여 약 24 시간 동안 볼 밀링 과정을 통해 입도가 작은 미세한 Silicate 분말로 만들었다. 합성된 분말은 여러 가지 시험 및 분석을 통해서 검증되었으며, 불순물 등은 관찰되지 않았다.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.7
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• pp.2174-2183
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• 2021

Helium cooled solid breeder blanket as an important blanket candidate of the Tokamak fusion reactor uses ceramic pebble bed for tritium breeding. Considering the poor effective thermal conductivity of the ceramic breeder pebble bed, thin structure of tritium breeder pebble bed is usually adopted in the blanket design. The container wall has a great influence on the thin pebble bed packing structure, especially for the assembly of mono-sized particles, and thin pebble bed will appear anisotropic effective thermal conductivity phenomenon. In this paper, thin ceramic pebble beds composed of 1 mm diameter Li₄SiO₄ particles are generated by the EDEM 2.7. The effective thermal conductivity of different thickness pebble beds in the three-dimensional directions are analyzed by three-dimensional thermal network method. It is observed that thin Li₄SiO₄ pebble bed showing anisotropic effective thermal conductivity under the practical design size. Normally, the effective thermal conductivity along the bed vertical direction is higher than the horizontal direction due to the gravity effect. As the thickness increases from 10 mm to 40 mm, the effective thermal conductivity of the pebble bed gradually increases.