NOVEL LOTUS LITHIUM-LEAD FUSION BLANKET CONCEPT

Saber Azam and Anil Kumar^#

Institut de Génie Atomique, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
^#Present Address: M.A.N.E.D., UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 90024, USA

A new lithium-lead blanket is studied on the basis of the following criteria: (i) having a tritium breeding rate of at least 1.1; (ii) having compact modules and (iii) considering the compatibility of structural materials with the primary zonal components. Low-activation ferritic steel is employed as the first wall. This element of the blanket is followed by two breeding zones of Li₁₇Pb₈₃ (natural lithium) and Li⁶, using respectively the reference vanadium-alloy and the ferritic steel for structural support. Graphite together with the vanadium-alloy fulfils the role of the reflector. A safer variant of the blanket concept, using (SiC) in the reflecting zone, is also studied in spite of its lower albedo with respect to graphite. A flexible experimental module is designed for tritium breeding measurements, foil activation and spectrum measurement purposes.

KEYWORDS: Lithium-lead, Blanket concept, Fusion blanket, tritium breeders, Structural materials, Blanket reflectors