Comparison over the Nuclear Analysis of the HCLL blanket for the European DEMO

J.-C. Jaboulay (1) , G. Aiello (1) , J. Aubert (1) , R. Villari (2) , U. Fischer (3)

1 CEA-DES (ex-DEN) - CEA-Direction des Energies (ex-Direction de l'Energie Nucléaire)
2 ENEA - Italian National agency for new technologies, Energy and sustainable economic development [Frascati]
3 KIT - Karlsruhe Institute of Technology

The EUROfusion Consortium develops a conceptual design of a fusion power demonstrator (DEMO) in the framework of the European Horizon 2020 innovation and research program. Key issues for DEMO are tritium self-sufficiency and heat removal for conversion into electricity. These functions are filled by the breeding blankets surrounding the plasma chamber. The Helium Cooled Lithium Lead (HCLL) blanket is one of the concepts which are investigated for DEMO. It uses the liquid lithium lead eutectic as tritium breeder and neutron multiplier and helium gas as coolant for both the Eurofer structure and the breeder. Within the EUROfusion organisation CEA is in charge for the design of the HCLL blanket for DEMO including the nuclear design analyses.This paper presents results of the nuclear analysis carried out in 2014 at CEA with the TRIPOLI-4 Monte Carlo code. In a previous analysis of the HCLL DEMO, conducted by ENEA within the EFDA work programme 2013, the MCNP code was applied with a detailed 3D Monte Carlo model describing the HCLL blanket modules (stiffening grid, cooling plate, manifold, back plates, etc.). This MCNP model was converted into a TRIPOLI-4 geometry model for performing the nuclear analysis at CEA with the objective to demonstrate consistency between the MCNP and TRIPOLI results. A very good agreement was obtained for all of the relevant nuclear responses (neutron wall loading, tritium breeding ratio, nuclear heating, etc.), showing the validity of CEA's nuclear analysis approach for the European DEMO based on TRIPOLI-4.

Keywords: DEMO; neutronics; blanket; HCLL; tritium breeding; nuclear heating; TRIPOLI-4

Domains: Nuclear Experiment [nucl-ex]; Nuclear Theory [nucl-th]

J.-C. Jaboulay, G. Aiello, J. Aubert, R. Villari, U. Fischer. Comparison over the Nuclear Analysis of the HCLL blanket for the European DEMO. 12th ISFNT (International Symposium on Fusion Nuclear Technology), Sep 2015, Seogwipo City, South Korea. ⟨cea-02509268⟩