Experimental study on tritium breeding in water-cooled ceramic breeder blanket mock-up under D–T neutron irradiation conditions. (4th May 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Zhu, Qingjun; Chen, Wuhui; Bao, Jie; Du, Hua; Liu, Songlin; Huang, Kai
• Is Part Of: Nuclear fusion. Volume 61:Number 6(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-05-04
• Subjects: D–T neutrons -- blanket mock-up -- neutronics experiments -- WCCB blanket -- CFETR; Nuclear fusion -- Periodicals; 621.48405
• DOI: 10.1088/1741-4326/abed84
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0029-5515

Abstract

Abstract: The accurate assessment of tritium breeding parameters within fusion blankets is crucial for future magnet-confined fusion machines to realize fuel self-sufficiency. Such an assessment can be conducted using the simulation approach with nuclear data of high-fidelity and, most importantly, validated against experimental data. In this paper, we report neutronics experiment studies carried out on a mock-up of the water-cooled ceramic breeder blanket of the China fusion engineering test reactor (CFETR), irradiated at a deuterium–tritium (D–T) neutron source. The mock-up's nuclear responses to 14 MeV neutrons, including tritium production rates (TPR) and neutron-induced reaction rates, are simulated and validated by experimental results. Redundant measurement techniques are used, including Li2 TiO3 pellets for offline TPR measurements and the developed lithium glass detector with a significantly reduced size for online TPR measurements. The validation of the TPR value is complemented by the experimental evaluation of the neutron-induced reaction rates for Au and Zr foils. All experimental results are analyzed using the MCNP-4C code and FENDL-3.0 nuclear data library. The source term for the Monte Carlo simulation is built using a newly-developed method based upon the modeling of the depth profiling of tritium in the tritiated target. The experiments are in good agreement with the simulations; ratios of the calculation to experimental results ( C / E ) on TPR are found to be 0.97–1.08. The influence of the first wall tungsten armor on the mock-up nuclear responses is also studied.