Neutronic study on the effect of first wall material thickness on tritium production and material damage in a fusion reactor

In this study,the effects of changing first wall materials and their thicknesses on a reactor were investigated to determine the displacement per atom(DPA)and gas production(helium and hydrogen)in the first wall,as well as the tritium breeding ratio(TBR)in the coolant and tritium breeding zones.Therefore,the modeling of the magnetic fusion reactor was determined based on the blanket parameters of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor(ITER).Stainless steel(SS 316 LNIG),Oxide Dispersion Strengthened Steel alloy(PM2000 ODS),and China low-activation martensitic steel(CLAM)were used as the first wall(FW)materials.Fluoride family molten salt materials(FLiBe,FLiNaBe,FLiPb)and lithium oxide(LiO_(2))were considered the coolant and tritium production material in the blanket,respectively.Neutron transport calculations were performed using the wellknown 3D code MCNP5 using the continuous-energy Monte Carlo method.The built-in continuous energy nuclear and atomic data libraries along with the Evaluated Nuclear Data file(ENDF)system(ENDF/B-V and ENDF/B-VI)were used.Additionally,the activity cross-section data library CLAW-IV was used to evaluate both the DPA values and gas production of the first wall(FW)materials.An interface computer program written in the FORTRAN 90 language to evaluate the MCNP5 outputs was developed for the fusion reactor blanket.The results indicated that the best TBR value was obtained for the use of the FLiPb coolant,whereas depending on the thickness,the first wall replacement period in terms of radiation damage to all materials was between 6 and 11 years.

Structural model for the first wall W-based material in ITER project

The preparation, characterization, and test of the first wall materials designed to be used in the fusion reactor have remained challenging problems in the material science. This work uses the firstprinciples method as implemented in the CASTEP package to study the influ ences of the doped titanium carbide on the structural sta bility of the WTiC material. The calculated total energy and enthalpy have been used as criteria to judge the structural models built with consideration of symmetry. Our simulation indicates that the doped TiC tends to form its own domain up to the investigated nanoscale, which implies a possible phase separation. This result reveals the intrinsic reason for the composite nature of the WTiC material and provides an explanation for the experimen tally observed phase separation at the nanoscale. Our approach also sheds a light on explaining the enhancing effects of doped components on the durability, reliability, corrosion resistance, etc., in many special steels.

Relationship between Low Temperature Toughness and Microstructure in Low Activation Fe-Cr-Mn(W,V)Steel for Fusion Reactors

Fe-Cr-Mn (W, V) austenite steel was researched in order to supply a theory base for the first wall materials of fusion reactors.Experiments included vacuum melting, forging, annealing, solution treatment, Charpy impact tests and microstructure observation. Theresults show that the imped value decreases with the test temperature decreasing. In this system, there is ductile/brittle transition. Themechanism of this decrease of the impact value is considered to be due to γ - ε transformation in sub-stable austenite steel and stoppingoverlapping sacking fault by grain boundaries in stable austenite steel.