Beryllium and Lithium Resource Requirements for Solid Blanket Designs for Fusion Reactors.

摘要

The lithium and beryllium requirements are analyzed for an economy of 10exp 6MW(e) CTR exp 3capacity using solid blanket fusion reactors. The total lithium inventory in fusion reactors is only approximately 0.2percent of projected U. S. resources. The lithium inventory in the fusion reactors is almost entirely exp 6Li,which must be extracted from natural lithium. Approximately 5percent of natural lithium can be extracted as exp 6Li. Thus the total feed of natural lithium required is approximately 20times that actually used in fusion reactors,or approximately 4percent of U. S. resources. Almost all of this feed is returned to the U. S. resource base after exp 6Li is extracted,however. The beryllium requirements are on the order of 10percent of projected U. S. resources. Further,the present cost of lithium and the cost of beryllium extraction could both be increased tenfold with only minor effects on CTR capital cost. Such an increase should substantially multiply the economically recoverable resources of lithium and beryllium. It is concluded that there are no lithium or beryllium resource limitations preventing large-scale implementation of solid blanket fusion reactors.