Impact of trapping on tritium self-sufficiency and tritium inventories in fusion power plant fuel cycles
The dynamic analysis of fusion power plant (FPP) fuel cycles highlights the challenge of achieving tritium self-sufficiency in future FPPs. While state-of-the-art fuel cycle models offer valuable insights into the necessary design parameters for attaining tritium self-sufficiency, none of these mode...
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| Language: | English |
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IOP Publishing
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Nuclear Fusion |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-4326/adacfa |
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| author | Samuele Meschini Rémi Delaporte-Mathurin George R. Tynan Sara E. Ferry |
| author_facet | Samuele Meschini Rémi Delaporte-Mathurin George R. Tynan Sara E. Ferry |
| author_sort | Samuele Meschini |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The dynamic analysis of fusion power plant (FPP) fuel cycles highlights the challenge of achieving tritium self-sufficiency in future FPPs. While state-of-the-art fuel cycle models offer valuable insights into the necessary design parameters for attaining tritium self-sufficiency, none of these models currently consider the impact of tritium trapping within fuel cycle components. However, detailed analysis of individual components reveals that substantial amounts of tritium can be trapped within the first wall, divertors, and breeding blanket systems, suggesting that tritium trapping may significantly influence the FPP ability to achieve self-sufficiency. The compounded effects of additional tritium traps generated by irradiation effects and component replacements further exacerbate this challenge. The novelty of this work is the integration of an explicit, physics-based model for tritium trapping, evolution of damage-induced traps, and component replacements into a dynamic, system-level model of a fuel cycle. The results show an increase of a factor $10^3 - 10^4$ of tritium inventory in the first wall and vacuum vessel of an ARC-class FPP when accounting for the aforementioned phenomena. This, coupled with the replacement of components subject to significant tritium trapping, slows down fuel cycle dynamics, resulting in an extended tritium doubling time (50% increase), higher start-up inventory (30% increase), and higher required tritium breeding ratio (2%–5%) compared to a scenario without tritium trapping. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-d4bfb9170ec14305947824fb972132db |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0029-5515 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | IOP Publishing |
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| series | Nuclear Fusion |
| spelling | doaj-art-d4bfb9170ec14305947824fb972132db2025-02-11T10:02:04ZengIOP PublishingNuclear Fusion0029-55152025-01-0165303601010.1088/1741-4326/adacfaImpact of trapping on tritium self-sufficiency and tritium inventories in fusion power plant fuel cyclesSamuele Meschini0https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8014-903XRémi Delaporte-Mathurin1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1064-8882George R. Tynan2https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7461-4871Sara E. Ferry3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7505-9571Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, MA 02139, United States of AmericaPlasma Science and Fusion Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, MA 02139, United States of AmericaPlasma Science and Fusion Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, MA 02139, United States of America; Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and The Center for Energy Research, University of California , San Diego, CA, United States of AmericaPlasma Science and Fusion Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology , Cambridge, MA 02139, United States of AmericaThe dynamic analysis of fusion power plant (FPP) fuel cycles highlights the challenge of achieving tritium self-sufficiency in future FPPs. While state-of-the-art fuel cycle models offer valuable insights into the necessary design parameters for attaining tritium self-sufficiency, none of these models currently consider the impact of tritium trapping within fuel cycle components. However, detailed analysis of individual components reveals that substantial amounts of tritium can be trapped within the first wall, divertors, and breeding blanket systems, suggesting that tritium trapping may significantly influence the FPP ability to achieve self-sufficiency. The compounded effects of additional tritium traps generated by irradiation effects and component replacements further exacerbate this challenge. The novelty of this work is the integration of an explicit, physics-based model for tritium trapping, evolution of damage-induced traps, and component replacements into a dynamic, system-level model of a fuel cycle. The results show an increase of a factor $10^3 - 10^4$ of tritium inventory in the first wall and vacuum vessel of an ARC-class FPP when accounting for the aforementioned phenomena. This, coupled with the replacement of components subject to significant tritium trapping, slows down fuel cycle dynamics, resulting in an extended tritium doubling time (50% increase), higher start-up inventory (30% increase), and higher required tritium breeding ratio (2%–5%) compared to a scenario without tritium trapping.https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-4326/adacfafuel cycletritium trappingtritium self-sufficiencytritium inventoriesmaintenancetritium breeding |
| spellingShingle | Samuele Meschini Rémi Delaporte-Mathurin George R. Tynan Sara E. Ferry Impact of trapping on tritium self-sufficiency and tritium inventories in fusion power plant fuel cycles Nuclear Fusion fuel cycle tritium trapping tritium self-sufficiency tritium inventories maintenance tritium breeding |
| title | Impact of trapping on tritium self-sufficiency and tritium inventories in fusion power plant fuel cycles |
| title_full | Impact of trapping on tritium self-sufficiency and tritium inventories in fusion power plant fuel cycles |
| title_fullStr | Impact of trapping on tritium self-sufficiency and tritium inventories in fusion power plant fuel cycles |
| title_full_unstemmed | Impact of trapping on tritium self-sufficiency and tritium inventories in fusion power plant fuel cycles |
| title_short | Impact of trapping on tritium self-sufficiency and tritium inventories in fusion power plant fuel cycles |
| title_sort | impact of trapping on tritium self sufficiency and tritium inventories in fusion power plant fuel cycles |
| topic | fuel cycle tritium trapping tritium self-sufficiency tritium inventories maintenance tritium breeding |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1088/1741-4326/adacfa |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT samuelemeschini impactoftrappingontritiumselfsufficiencyandtritiuminventoriesinfusionpowerplantfuelcycles AT remidelaportemathurin impactoftrappingontritiumselfsufficiencyandtritiuminventoriesinfusionpowerplantfuelcycles AT georgertynan impactoftrappingontritiumselfsufficiencyandtritiuminventoriesinfusionpowerplantfuelcycles AT saraeferry impactoftrappingontritiumselfsufficiencyandtritiuminventoriesinfusionpowerplantfuelcycles |