Speaker
Prof.
Andrey Arzhannikov
(Novosibirsk State University)
Description
Thorium-uranium power industry has a number of advantages over uranium-plutonium one and a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor with thorium fuel is very attractive for application in Russian Federation. Fuel assemblies filled by pellets with microencapsulated thorium-uranium kernels should be used in such reactors. In open fuel cycle the operation time of such reactor will be up to 10 years. Since the novel fuel assemblies with the microencapsulated kernels were not studied in neutron-physical experiments for regimes of this reactor it is necessary to have a device that allows carrying out such experimental studies. These experimental studies should be devoted to several topics. The multiplying properties of nuclear fuel compositions based on thorium and the spatial distribution of neutron fluxes in the fuel assemblies and fuel blocks are among of them. Studies on this device will give scientific information for supplement of the evaluated nuclear database.
The overall structure of the mentioned above device is described in the paper. The device would operate with a thorium subcritical assembly driven a fast neutron source. A long magnetic trap with injection of high energy neutral beams into a plasma column will serve as a source of 14-MeV thermonuclear neutrons [1]. The source of fast neutrons is placed in to the graphite subcritical assembly as the central column. The subcritical assembly design consists of Fuel Block of the Unified Design [2]. Calculation model of subcritical assembly was created using MCU-5 program [3]. Geometrical module of MCU-5 allows simulating 3D systems with different complexity geometry using combinatorial approach based on description of complicated systems by combinations of elementary bodies and surfaces. Preliminary analysis of the experimental and theoretical results on the GDT shows a prospect of the project [4]. The detailed analysis of the requirements for the plasma as the neutron source is presented in the paper. Key peculiarities of the engineering solution on plasma heating and confinement in the device are discussed as well.
1. Arzhannikov A.V. et. al. Gas-dynamic trap with Q ~ 0.1 as a driver for hybrid thorium reactor // The 10th International Conference on Open Magnetic Systems for Plasma Confinement, August 26-29, 2014, Daejeon, Korea, Abstract Book of OS2014, p.85 (OS5-04), http://www.os2014.org/sub0202.
2. Shamanin I.V. et. al. Gas-Cooled Thorium Reactor with Fuel Block of the Unified Design // Advances in Materials Science and Engineering, vol. 2015, Article ID 392721, 8 pages, 2015. doi:10.1155/2015/392721.
3. Oleynik D. S. et. al. The status of MCU-5 // Physics of Atomic Nuclei, vol. 75, no. 14, pp. 1634–1646, 2012.
4. Anikeev A. V. et. al., Parameters of Fusion Neutron Source Based on the Recent GDT Experimental Data and Possible Applications// FUSION SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, V. 68, pp. 70-75.
Primary author
Prof.
Andrey Arzhannikov
(Novosibirsk State University)
Co-authors
Prof.
Alexander Dyachenko
(Tomsk Polytehnic University)
Prof.
Alexander Ivanov
(Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics)
Dr
Alexei Beklemishev
(Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics)
Dr
Andrey Anikeev
(Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics SB RAS)
Prof.
Igor Shamanin
(Tomsk Polytechnic University)
Dr
Oleg Dolmatov
(Tomsk Polytechnic University)
