Lithium-cooled blankets for advanced tokamaks

The main objective of the Tokamak Power System Studies (TPSS) at Argonne National Lab. during fiscal year 1985 was to explore innovative design concepts that have the potential for significant enhancement of the attractiveness of a tokamak-based power plant. Activities in the area of plasma engineering resulted in a reference reactor concept, which served as a model for the impurity control and first-wall/blanket/shield studies. The liquid-metal-cooled first-wall/blanket/shield design activity was centered around the vanadium alloy structure and liquid-lithium coolant leading blanket concept as identified by the Blanket Comparison and Selection Study (BCSS). A ferritic steel structure and a LiPb breeder were considered as backup options. The magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) effects associated with self-cooled liquid-metal blanket/first-wall systems are substantially reduced by the lower magnetic fields required for higher plasmas, the lower neutron wall loading resulting from reduced power output, and the smaller reactor size of the TPSS model reactor. Therefore, improved performance characteristics of self-cooled liquid-metal blanket concepts are achievable mainly because the design constraints are more relaxed compared to the BCSS guidelines. Key aspects of the designs evaluated in the current study include the following: (1) design simplicity; (2) use of the first wall as an impurity control device; (3) modularmore » first-wall/blanket/reflector/shield construction; and (4) integrated first-wall/blanket/reflector/shield.« less