A parameter study of time-varying tritium production in solid-type breeder blankets

Tritium production is of critical importance to prospective DT fusion power plants. Lithium ceramic and beryllium based solid-type breeder blankets are an option for supplying the tritium required to sustain the DT plasma. This research investigates the time-varying tritium production in solid breeder blankets with different compositions. The breeder fraction was varied in conjunction with the Li6 enrichment. The parameter study considered 198 different blanket compositions for three blanket thicknesses. The cheapest configuration capable of meeting the tritium requirements were found. The cost of Li4SiO4 (including Li6 enrichment) and Be12Ti were considered. The time-varying tritium production of each blanket configuration was simulated using the interface code, FATI, that couples the radiation transport code MCNP 6 with the inventory code FISPACT-II. Economical blanket configurations capable of self-sufficiency were found. The cost of producing excess tritium for start-up inventories was found to be between $18,000 and $27,000 per g. Fitting functions to predict the time-averaged tritium breeding fraction and the tritium inventory at five years, were obtained for inclusion in the PROCESS systems code. PROCESS is now able to consider different breeding blanket compositions and thicknesses when assessing the engineering, physics and economic feasibility of reactor designs.