Starlight: A Stationary Inertial-Confinement-Fusion Reactor with Nonvaporizing Walls.

摘要

The Starlight concept for an inertial-confinement-fusion (ICF) reactor utilizes a softball-sized solid-lithium x-ray and debris shield that surrounds each fuel pellet as it is injected into the reactor. The shield is sacrificial and vaporizes as it absorbs x-ray and ion-debris energy emanating from the fusion reactions in the fuel pellets. However, the energy deposition time at the surface if the first wall is lengthened by four orders of magnitude (to > 100 (mu)s) which allows the energy to be conducted into the wall fast enough to prevent vaporization. Starlight operates at 5 Hz with 300-MJ-yield fuel pellets. It features a stationary, nonvaporizing first wall that eliminates erosion and shock waves which can destroy the wall; also, it allows arbitrary fuel pellet illumination geometries so that efficient coupling of either laser or heavy ion beam driver energy to the fuel pellet can be achieved. When neutrons penetrate the shield, the wall experiences neutron damage that limits its lifetime. Hence, we must choose wall materials that have ab economic lifetime. We describe the general concept and a specific design for laser drivers using a 6-m-radius, 2 1/4 Cr 1 Mo steel first wall. We include heat transfer calculations used to establish the radius and structural analysis that shows stresses are within allowable limits. A wall lifetime of over six years is predicted. 19 refs., 2 figs.