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Latest News
G7 pledges support for nuclear at Italy meeting
The Group of Seven (G7) recommitted its support for nuclear energy in the countries that opt to use it at a Ministerial Meeting on Climate in Italy last month.
In a statement following the April meeting, the group committed to support multilateral efforts to strengthen the resilience of nuclear supply chains, referencing the goal set by 25 countries during last year’s COP28 climate conference in Dubai to triple global nuclear generating capacity by 2050.
Tim D. Bohm, Andrew Davis, Moataz S. Harb, Edward P. Marriott, Paul P. H. Wilson
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 75 | Number 6 | August 2019 | Pages 429-437
Technical Paper | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2019.1600930
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The use of a liquid-metal (LM) plasma-facing component (LM-PFC) in fusion reactor designs has some advantages as well as some disadvantages as compared to traditional designs that use a solid plasma-facing wall. Neutronics analysis of these potential LM-PFC concepts is important in order to ensure that radiation limits are met and that system performance meets expectations.
A three-dimensional (3-D) neutronics analysis parametric study considering four LM first-wall (FW) candidates, (PbLi, Li, Sn, and SnLi) was performed with a thin (2.51-cm) LM-PFC design. The 3-D neutronics study used a fusion reactor based on the Fusion Energy Systems Study (FESS) Fusion Nuclear Science Facility (FNSF) (FESS-FNSF) that served as the baseline for comparison. FESS-FNSF is a deuterium-tritium–fueled tokamak with 518 MW of fusion power. A partially homogenized 3-D computer-aided-design model of the LM-PFC FNSF design was analyzed using the DAG-MCNP5 transport code.
The results show that all candidate LM designs are acceptable with 4% to 13% increases in the tritium breeding ratio compared to the baseline case. The peak displacements per atom at the FW decrease 2% to 15%. For all four LM designs examined, the magnet heating and fast neutron fluence are well below acceptable limits. Overall, the Li LM design is the best candidate from a neutronics perspective.