Journal article
Conceptual design study for heat exhaust management in the ARC fusion pilot plant
Fusion engineering and design, Vol.137(C), pp.221-242
12/01/2018
DOI: 10.1016/j.fusengdes.2018.09.007
Abstract
•The ARC conceptual design study has been extended to include a divertor.•Long legged X-point target divertors are implemented with no impact on core plasma.•All superconducting coils are shielded and the tritium breeding ratio is ≈1.08.•An ITER-like tungsten swirl-tube cooling channel with molten FLiBe coolant is used.•The ARC reactor divertor design simplifies detachment control and diagnostics.
The ARC pilot plant conceptual design study has been extended beyond its initial scope [B. N. Sorbom et al., FED 100 (2015) 378] to explore options for managing ∼525 MW of fusion power generated in a compact, high field (B0 = 9.2 T) tokamak that is approximately the size of JET (R0 = 3.3 m). Taking advantage of ARC’s novel design – demountable high temperature superconductor toroidal field (TF) magnets, poloidal magnetic field coils located inside the TF, and vacuum vessel (VV) immersed in molten salt FLiBe blanket – this follow-on study has identified innovative and potentially robust power exhaust management solutions. The superconducting poloidal field coil set has been reconfigured to produce double-null plasma equilibria with a long-leg X-point target divertor geometry. This design choice is motivated by recent modeling which indicates that such configurations enhance power handling and may attain a passively-stable detachment front that stays in the divertor leg over a wide power exhaust window. A modified VV accommodates the divertor legs while retaining the original core plasma volume and TF magnet size. The molten salt FLiBe blanket adequately shields all superconductors, functions as an efficient tritium breeder, and, with augmented forced flow loops, serves as an effective single-phase, low-pressure coolant for the divertor, VV, and breeding blanket. Advanced neutron transport calculations (MCNP) indicate a tritium breeding ratio of ∼1.08. The neutron damage rate (DPA/year) of the remote divertor targets is ∼3–30 times lower than that of the first wall. The entire VV (including divertor and first wall) can tolerate high damage rates since the demountable TF magnets allow the VV to be replaced every 1–2 years as a single unit, employing a vertical maintenance scheme. A tungsten swirl tube FLiBe coolant channel design, similar in geometry to that used by ITER, is considered for the divertor heat removal and shown capable of exhausting divertor heat flux levels of up to 12 MW/m2. Several novel, neutron tolerant diagnostics are explored for sensing power exhaust and for providing feedback control of divertor conditions over long time scales. These include measurement of Cherenkov radiation emitted in FLiBe to infer DT fusion reaction rate, measurement of divertor detachment front locations in the divertor legs with microwave interferometry, and monitoring “hotspots” on the divertor chamber walls via IR imaging through the FLiBe blanket.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Conceptual design study for heat exhaust management in the ARC fusion pilot plant
- Creators
- A.Q. Kuang - Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyN.M. Cao - Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyA.J. Creely - Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyC.A. Dennett - Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyJ. Hecla - Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyB. LaBombard - Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyR.A. Tinguely - Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyE.A. Tolman - Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyH. Hoffman - Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyM. Major - Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyJ. Ruiz Ruiz - Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyD. Brunner - Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyP. Grover - Mitsubishi ElectricC. Laughman - Mitsubishi ElectricB.N. Sorbom - Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyD.G. Whyte - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Fusion engineering and design, Vol.137(C), pp.221-242
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.fusengdes.2018.09.007
- ISSN
- 0920-3796
- eISSN
- 1873-7196
- Publisher
- Elsevier B.V
- Number of pages
- 22
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 12/01/2018
- Academic Unit
- Physics and Astronomy
- Record Identifier
- 9985113641002771
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