Neutronic and thermohydraulic blanket analysis for hybrid fusion–fission reactor during operation

Abstract

This work demonstrates the results of full-scale numerical experiments of a hybrid thorium-containing fuel plant operating in a state close to critical due to a controlled source of D–T neutrons. The proposed facility represented a level of generated power (∼10–100 MWt) in a small pilot. In this work, the simulation of the D–T neutron plasma source operation in conjunction with the facility blanket was performed. The fission of fuel nuclei and the formation of spatial-energy release were studied in this simulation, in pulsed and stationary modes of the facility operation. The optimization results of neutronic and fluid dynamics studies to level the emerging offsets of the radial energy formed in the volume of the facility multiplying part due to the pulsed operation of the D–T neutron plasma source were presented. The results will be useful in improving the power control-based subcriticality monitoring method in coupled systems of the “pulsed neutron source–subcritical fuel assembly” type.

Keywords

• Hybrid fusion–fission reactor facility
• Thorium
• D–T neutrons
• Neutronic and thermohydraulic studies