Investigation of the hydrogen production of the PACER fusion blanket integrated with Fe–Cl thermochemical water splitting cycle

Abstract

In order to meet the energy demand, energy production must be done continuously. Hydrogen seems to be the best alternative for this energy production, because it is both an environmentally friendly and renewable energy source. In this study, the hydrogen fuel production of the peaceful nuclear explosives (PACER) fusion blanket as the energy source integrated with Fe–Cl thermochemical water splitting cycle have been investigated. Firstly, neutronic analyzes of the PACER fusion blanket were performed. Necessary neutronic studies were performed in the Monte Carlo calculation method. Molten salt fuel has been considered mole-fractions of heavy metal salt (ThF4, UF4 and ThF4+UF4) by 2, 6 and 12 mol. % with Flibe as the main constituent. Secondly, potential of the hydrogen fuel production as a result of the neutronic evaluations of the PACER fusion blanket integrated with Fe–Cl thermochemical cycle have been performed. In these calculations, tritium breeding (TBR), energy multiplication factor (M), thermal power ratio (1−ψ), total thermal power (Phpf) and mass flow rate of hydrogen (m˙H2) have been computed. As a results, the amount of the hydrogen production (m˙H2) have been obtained in the range of 232.24x106 kg/year and 345.79 x106 kg/year for the all mole-fractions of heavy metal salts using in the blanket.

Keywords

• Molten salt
• PACER
• Nuclear hydrogen production
• Thermochemical
• Iron chlorine (Fe–Cl) cycle