Nuclear Engineering and Technology

Korean Nuclear Society (한국원자력학회)
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Facility to study neutronic properties of a hybrid thorium reactor with a source of thermonuclear neutrons based on a magnetic trap

  • Arzhannikov, Andrey V. (Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics of Siberian Branch Russian Academy of Sciences) ;
  • Shmakov, Vladimir M. (Federal State Unitary Enterprise (Russian Federal Nuclear Center-Zababakhin All-Russia Research Institute of Technical Physics)) ;
  • Modestov, Dmitry G. (Federal State Unitary Enterprise (Russian Federal Nuclear Center-Zababakhin All-Russia Research Institute of Technical Physics)) ;
  • Bedenko, Sergey V. (National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University) ;
  • Prikhodko, Vadim V. (Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics of Siberian Branch Russian Academy of Sciences) ;
  • Lutsik, Igor O. (National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University) ;
  • Shamanin, Igor V. (National Research Tomsk Polytechnic University)
  • Received : 2020.02.19
  • Accepted : 2020.05.05
  • Published : 2020.11.25
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Abstract

To study the thermophysical and neutronic properties of thorium-plutonium fuel, a conceptual design of a hybrid facility consisting of a subcritical Th-Pu reactor core and a source of additional D-D neutrons that places on the axis of the core is proposed. The source of such neutrons is a column of high-temperature plasma held in a long magnetic trap for D-D fusionreactions. This article presents computer simulation results of generation of thermonuclear neutrons in the plasma, facility neutronic properties and the evolution of a fuel nuclide composition in the reactor core. Simulations were performed for an axis-symmetric radially profiled reactor core consisting of zones with various nuclear fuel composition. Such reactor core containing a continuously operating stationary D-D neutron source with a yield intensity of Y = 2 × 1016 neutrons per second can operate as a nuclear hybrid system at its effective coefficient of neutron multiplication 0.95-0.99. Options are proposed for optimizing plasma parameters to increase the neutron yield in order to compensate the effective multiplication factor decreasing and plant power in a long operating cycle (3000-day duration). The obtained simulation results demonstrate the possibility of organizing the stable operation of the proposed hybrid 'fusion-fission' facility.

Keywords

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