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Playing the “bad guy” to enhance next-generation safety
Sometimes, cops and robbers is more than just a kid’s game. At the Department of Energy’s national laboratories, researchers are channeling their inner saboteurs to discover vulnerabilities in next-generation nuclear reactors, making sure that they’re as safe as possible before they’re even constructed.
C. S. Debonnel, S. S. Yu, P. F. Peterson
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 44 | Number 2 | September 2003 | Pages 274-278
Technical Paper | Fusion Energy - Advanced Designs | doi.org/10.13182/FST03-A346
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
This paper presents detailed design and analysis for x-ray ablation and venting in the 120-beam, 7-MJ heavy-ion fusion (HIF) "robust" point design. The HI Robust Point Design ("RPD-2002") is a self-consistent, non-optimized system design that has been generated as a point of reference for ongoing research in the HIF program. The point design uses a thick-liquid protected chamber, derived from HYLIFE-II - no structural surfaces face the target. A ternary salt mixture called flinabe (LiNaBeF4) has been selected for the liquid structures. Detailed two-dimensional, axially symmetric TSUNAMI calculations have been performed to determine the mass of ablation debris generated by the target x-rays following ignition and to predict the venting of the debris from the inside of the pocket into the main chamber and beam lines. These calculations provide predictions of the impulse loading to the surfaces of the liquid pocket - The closest liquid structures will experience a somewhat strong impulse, but further optimization of the design will easily decrease this impulse. The integrated mass and energy fluxes of ablation and target debris reaching the beam-line magnetic shutters are given as well: A small and acceptable magnetic dipole will prevent any debris ingression up in the final focus magnet region.