NEUTRONICS ANALYSIS IN SUPPORT OF THE FUSION DEVELOPMENT FACILITY DESIGN EVOLUTION

M.E. Sawan1, A.M. Ibrahim1, P.P.H. Wilson1, E.P. Marriott1, R.D. Stambaugh2, C.P.C. Wong2
1
University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, sawan@engr.wisc.edu
2
General Atomics, San Diego, California 92186, stambaugh@fusion.gat.com

3-D neutronics analysis was performed for the and plasma/wall gaps, was developed with R of 2.7 m, a
baseline design of FDF, also called FNSF-AT. Two of 0.77 m, and 2.3 plasma elongation as shown in Fig. 1.
blanket concepts were considered; Dual Coolant Lead
Lithium (DCLL), and Helium Cooled Ceramic Breeder
(HCCB). A peak outboard neutron wall loading of 2
MW/m2 and a fluence of 6-8 MW-yr/m2 can be achieved
with 240 MW fusion power. The tritium breeding ratio is
adequate for both blankets. Modest magnet damage
parameters were obtained. However, it is recommended
that the PF coil in the divertor region be moved vertically
farther from the mid-plane to allow adding ~15 cm of
shield to reduce the peak organic insulator dose to an
acceptable level.

I. INTRODUCTION

A Fusion Nuclear Science Facility (FNSF) is needed

to enable moving to a fusion demonstration power plant
(DEMO) after ITER.1 This facility is required to answer
the remaining challenges of fusion material and fusion
nuclear science and to complete the scientific basis for a
fusion energy development program. Since ITER will
consume all of the existing tritium resources from the
CANDU reactors,2 the FNSF should have breeding
blankets that produce adequate tritium to cover its need as
well as generate the needed start-up inventory for the
DEMO. This is quite a challenge that puts constraints on
the design. In addition to tritium self-sufficiency,
adequate shielding for magnets and other sensitive
components should be assured. Two candidate designs
that use normal copper magnets were proposed for the
FNSF.3 These are the Fusion Development Facility (FDF)
based on advanced tokamak (AT) physics also called
FNSF-AT,4 and the Spherical Tokamak-Component Test
Facility (ST-CTF).5
The FDF design went through several iterations
starting with an initial baseline configuration with a major
radius (R) of 2.49 m and a minor radius (a) of 0.71 m. We
performed screening neutronics calculations to guide the
design evolution and ensure that shielding and breeding
requirements are satisfied.3 As a result, a new FDF
baseline design that incorporates the required increased
blanket/shield thickness with realistic divertor geometry
Fig. 1. FDF baseline configuration.
FDF utilizes ohmic heating (OH) coils in the inboard
(IB) side between the vacuum vessel (VV) and TF
centerpost. Allowing construction of the TF and OH coils
with conventional organic insulators which drive the
required IB blanket/shield thickness. IB and outboard
(OB) blanket/shield thicknesses of 0.6 and 0.8 m,
respectively, are used. The FDF allows for neutron wall
loadings as high as 2 MW/m2 and fluences of 3-8 MW-
yr/m2 in 20 years of operation to enable achieving its
mission. It is assumed that the blanket, VV, and OH coil
are replaced at one-third the machine lifetime while the
TF magnet is a lifetime component. We utilized the
detailed FDF CAD model to perform 3-D neutronics
using the DAG-MCNP code.6 In this paper, we report the
results of the initial screening and detailed 3-D
calculations.
II. INITIAL NEUTRONICS SCREENING
The initial FDF baseline was a smaller machine with
50 cm thick IB blanket/shield region. Several options
were considered for material choice in the IB zone. 1-D
calculations were performed with the radial build at mid- is 8 cm thick in IB and 12 cm thick in OB. The OH coil is
plane to determine magnet nuclear parameters. The OH 10 cm thick. The midplane port is surrounded by 7 cm FS
coil is replaced every time the IB blanket/shield assembly wall and 37.5 cm shield. The FW consists of 60% FS and
is replaced at about one-third the machine lifetime. 40% He. The DCLL blanket is made of 7.36% FS, 70.8%
Hence, the OH coil has to survive the environment PbLi, 7.91% SiC, and 7.42% He while the HCCB blanket
corresponding to 2 MW-yr/m2 peak OB fluence. For the consists of 29.14% FS, 31.74% Be, 9.29% Li4SiO4, and
VV to be reweldable, the cumulative end-of-life helium 29.83% He. The shield composition used is 15% FS, 15%
production should be <1 appm. If ceramic insulators are water, and 70% WC. The VV is made of 70% FS and
used in the magnets, the fast neutron fluence should not 30% water and the magnets consist of 65% Cu, 10% FS,
exceed ~1022 n/cm2 for a tolerable swelling <3%. 15% water, and 10% organic insulator.
However, if the more conventional organic insulator is
used, the absorbed dose should be less than ~1010 Rad to
avoid degradation in its mechanical properties.7
Many IB blanket/shield design options with various
materials were considered.8 For the shield, we considered
WC, B4C, SS316, and ferritic steel (FS) with helium or
water cooling. The option where a breeding blanket
occupies the front part of the IB space followed by a
water-cooled FS shield with WC filler appears to be the
best compromise between breeding and shielding
requirements. Two blanket concepts were considered;
Dual Coolant Lead Lithium (DCLL), and Helium Cooled
Ceramic Breeder (HCCB). The DCLL blanket has FS
structure cooled by He and PbLi (90% 6Li) breeder that is
isolated from the structure by SiC Flow Channel Inserts.
The HCCB blanket consists of FS structure, He coolant,
Be multiplier, and Li4SiO4 (80% 6Li) breeder.
We concluded that the radial build and configuration
of the initial baseline design is adequate if ceramic
insulators are used in the OH and TF coils but additional
shielding is required with organic insulators which was
confirmed by other independent calculations.9 Based on Fig. 2. CAD model used in DAG-MCNP calculations.
the calculated shield e-fold for organic dose, we estimated
the additional shield thickness required. The IB The source was sampled from a peaked distribution
blanket/shield thickness should be increased to 60 cm and in the plasma zone. Parameters calculated are the poloidal
the OB blanket/shield thickness should be 80 cm.3 The variation of neutron wall loading (NWL), tritium breeding
blanket/shield thickness between the PF coils in divertor ratio (TBR), nuclear heating, and damage parameters in
region and the plasma was increased to 50 cm. This led the VV and OH, TF, PF coils and corresponding
to the new baseline with R=2.70 m shown in Fig. 1. insulators. We utilized several variance reduction
techniques to reduce the statistical uncertainties in the
III. 3-D CALCULATION APPROACH calculated results. The 1 statistical uncertainties are <5%
for peak local parameters and <0.4% for integrated
We performed 3-D neutronics calculations for the parameters.
new FDF baseline configuration using the DAG-MCNP
code6 where the particles are transported directly in the IV. NEUTRON WALL LOADING DISTRIBUTION
CAD geometry. This allows preserving the geometrical
details and eliminates possible human modeling errors. The poloidal distribution of the NWL was determined
The most recent continuous energy fusion evaluated for the FDF fusion power of 290 MW. The results are
nuclear data library FENDL-2.1 was used.10 Fig. 2 shows shown in Fig. 3 where IB and OB results are given
the CAD model used in the calculations. Due to toroidal separately as a function of poloidal length measured from
symmetry, only 1/32 of the machine is used with the bottom. The structure in the profile reflects the effect
reflecting boundaries in the toroidal direction. The model of the sharp corners between FW segments. The peak
includes half of a mid-plane port and half of a TF coil. values in OB and IB are 2.41 and 2.06 MW/m2,
The blanket thickness that includes a 2 cm first wall respectively with average values of 1.69 and 1.09
(FW) is 25 cm in IB and 50 cm at mid-plane of OB. The MW/m2. The overall average is 1.44 MW/m2. Since the
shield thickness is 30 cm in IB and 24 cm in OB. The VV FDF goal is a peak OB NWL of 2 MW/m2, the results
imply that the fusion power can be reduced to 240 MW. side of the divertor region by increasing the blanket
With the advantage of reduced damage parameters, thickness as shown in Fig. 6. This small change resulted
plasma heating requirements, and tritium fueling and in ~10% increase in TBR leading to 1.09 for the HCCB
handling, this reduced fusion power is adopted for FDF. and 1.0 for the DCLL. Notice that the 3-D analysis
2.5
assumes that no tritium breeding blanket modules are
Inboard
inserted in all of the 16 mid-plane ports. To assess the
2.0 Outboard
effect of these ports we performed calculations with the
Neutron Wall Loading (MW/m )
2

OB blanket extended into the ports. This resulted in TBR

1.5 values of 1.15 for the HCCB and 1.06 for the DCLL. This
implies that lost coverage in the 16 ports accounts to ~6%
1.0
in TBR. Since several of these ports will be utilized for
P = 290 MW
advanced breeding blanket testing, we expect these test
modules to contribute to the overall TBR. It is clear that
f
R= 2.7 m
0.5 a= 0.77 m
!= 2.3 FDF has the potential for achieving tritium self-
sufficiency.
0.0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Poloidal Length from Bottom of FW (cm)

Fig. 3. Neutron wall loading profiles with 290 MWf.

V. TRITIUM BREEDING

The tritium bred in the CANDU reactors is the only

practical source available for ITER and other DT fusion
systems. The inventory available peaks at ~27 kg in the
late 2020s with rapid decrease thereafter. ITER will use
most of this tritium. We performed calculations to
determine the required TBR in the FNSF taking into
account use in ITER and FNSF.11 The results in Fig. 4
indicate that for the FNSF not to run out of tritium the
TBR should be close to 1. Higher TBR is required to
provide initial inventory for DEMO. For the FDF fusion
power of 240 MW, the minimum required TBR is ~1. Fig. 5. Tritium production distribution in HCCB blanket.

2.0

FNSF does not run out of T

5 kg T available after ITER and FNSF
10 kg T available after ITER and FNSF

1.5
Required TBR

1.0

2018 ITER start

2026 FNSF start
0.5
Fig. 6. Modified blanket in divertor region.

0.0 VI. NUCLEAR HEATING

50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400
Fusion Power of FNSF (MW)

Fig. 4. Required tritium breeding in FNSF. A fine mesh was overlaid on the FDF model to
determine nuclear heating (W/cm3) distribution in the
The TBR was calculated for the two blanket options different components. Fig. 7 shows the results at a section
using the configuration shown in Fig. 2. The total TBR through the middle of the mid-plane port for the HCCB
for the HCCB blanket is 1.01 with 0.75 contributed by the blanket option. The results clearly show the effect of
OB while the TBR is 0.9 for the DCLL blanket with 0.69 streaming through the divertor and mid-plane ports
from the OB. These values are ~15% lower than the full leading to enhanced heating around these penetrations.
coverage results from the 1-D initial screening due to the
lost coverage in the divertor and mid-plane ports. Fig. 5 VII. RADIATION DAMAGE PARAMETERS
gives the distribution of tritium production (g/m3s) in the
HCCB blanket. We modified the configuration in the IB
 The nuclear environment was determined for the VV
and TF, OH, and PF coils. The peak radiation effects and
damage parameters for the TF and OH coils occur at mid-
plane in the IB side. On the other hand, the hottest spot in
PF1 is the corner adjacent to the divertor penetration and
the hottest spot for PF3 is at the corner closest to the
plasma and adjacent to the port shield. Much lower
radiation effects are produced in PF2 that is shielded by
the much thicker blanket at top and bottom of OB region.
Fig. 7. Nuclear heating distribution with HCCB blanket.
The peak nuclear parameters in VV and TF, and OH
coils are listed in Table I for both blanket options. The
end-of-life parameters for the lifetime components were
calculated for 3 full power years (FPY) which
corresponds to a peak OB fluence of 6 MW-yr/m2. The
OH coil has one-third of the machine lifetime. The
results indicate that rewelding of the VV is possible at
anytime during the FDF lifetime.
Despite the added shielding by the OH coil, the end-
of-life peak parameters in the TF coil are close to those in
the OH coil that has one-third the lifetime. Magnet
radiation parameters are slightly higher with HCCB
blanket due to enhanced neutron multiplication in the
beryllium deep in the blanket compared to multiplication
in Pb with a much higher threshold energy. The results
show modest peak nuclear heating values.
Radiation induced increase in Cu electrical resistivity
impacts the performance of the coils through the increase
of the I2R heating and re-distribution of the current
across the coil.12 This increase results from displacement
damage and solute transmutation products. At high doses,
the displacement damage component approaches a
saturation value of 1-4 nm depending on purity and
alloy used. Up to ~ 90% of this resistivity increase could
be recovered by annealing near 300C.13 The
transmutation products are dominated by Ni, Zn, and Co
that build up as impurities with time resulting in changing
the conductor resistivity.14 The peak Cu dpa values were
used to calculate the peak Cu resistivity increase. It is
clear that, even without annealing, modest local resistivity
increase <4% is obtained. Hence, radiation induced
resistivity is not expected to be a concern.
TABLE I. Peak Radiation Parameters
DCLL HCCB
He appm in FS VV 0.084 0.096
3
Power density in OH (mW/cm ) 27.7 27.9
2 18
Fast neutron fluence in OH (n/cm ) 7.2x10 8.3x1018
Insulator dose in OH (Rads) 1.5x1010 1.6x1010
Cu dpa in OH (dpa) 5.2x10-3 6.3x10-3
Cu resistivity increase in OH (nm) 0.49 (3.1%) 0.56 (3.5%)
3
Power density in TF (mW/cm ) 7.1 7.2
2 18
Fast neutron fluence in TF (n/cm ) 6.2x10 7.2x1018
Organic insulator dose in TF (Rads) 1.1x1010 1.2x1010
Cu dpa in TF (dpa) 4.3x10-3 5.2x10-3
Cu resistivity increase in TF (nm) 0.42 (2.6%) 0.49 (3.1%)
The radiation effects on physical and mechanical
properties of Cu are strongly dependent on irradiation
temperature. For the water-cooled coils in FDF, low-
temperature radiation embrittlement at T < 150C is the
main concern.12 However, it is possible to maintain the
high ductility by periodically annealing the Cu at ~
300C.15 The very low dpa values in the coils along with
an operating temperature above 150C and possible
annealing implies that degradation in Cu mechanical
properties should not be a concern.
The peak insulator dose levels slightly exceed the
1010 Rad limit. However, the model did not account for
the separate coil case that provides additional shielding
for the insulator. There are also recent data for advanced
cyanate ester resins that show no degradation in properties
following irradiation to several 1010 Rads.16
The peak damage parameters in PF1 and PF3 are
given in Table II. They are higher with DCLL blanket due
to higher reflection into chamber of high-energy neutrons
by Pb resulting in more streaming. While higher than for
the TF and OH coils, the peak nuclear heating and Cu
resistivity increase values are still reasonably low.
However, the peak insulator dose is high due to streaming
in the mid-plane ports and divertor. Notice that shielding
of the insulator by the coil case is not accounted for. In
addition, no credit was taken for added shielding by
blanket test modules and other material in the port.
Hence, we do not expect the insulator dose in PF3 to be
an issue. On the other hand, the hot spot in PF1 at the
corner with only 20 cm shield has excessive insulator
dose. It is recommended that the PF1 coil be moved 2. M.E. SAWAN and M.A. ABDOU, Physics and
vertically farther from the mid-plane to allow adding ~15 Technology Conditions for Attaining Tritium Self-
cm of shield to reduce the peak insulator dose to an Sufficiency for the DT Fuel Cycle, Fusion
acceptable level. Engineering & Design, 81, 1131 (2006).
3. R.D. STAMBAUGH, et al., Fusion Nuclear Science
TABLE II. Peak Radiation Parameters in PF Coils Facility Candidates, accepted for publication in
DCLL HCCB Fusion Sci. Technol. 2010.
3
4. V.S. CHAN, et al., Physics Basis of a Fusion
Power density in PF1 (mW/cm ) 214 193 Development Facility Utilizing the Tokamak
Fast neutron fluence in PF1 (n/cm2) 2.2x1020 2.1x1020 Approach, Fusion Sci. Technol.57, 66 (2010).
5. Y.K.M. PENG, et al., Remote Handling and Plasma
Insulator dose in PF1 (Rads) 3.8x1011 3.6x1011
Conditions to Enable Fusion Nuclear Science R&D
Cu dpa in PF1 (dpa) 1.7x10-1 1.7x10-1 Using a Component Test Facility, Fusion Sci.
Technol. 56, 957 (2009).
Cu resistivity increase in PF1 (nm) 1.25 (7.8%) 1.25 (7.8%)
6. T. Tautges, P.P.H. Wilson, et al., Acceleration
Power density in PF3 (mW/cm ) 3
18.4 13.7 Techniques for Direct Use of CAD-Based
Fast neutron fluence in PF3 (n/cm2) 1.5x1019 1.4x1019
Geometries in Monte Carlo Radiation Transport,
Proc. International Conference on Mathematics,
Insulator dose in PF3 (Rads) 3.0x1010 2.5x1010 Computational Methods & Reactor Physics (M&C
Cu dpa in PF3 (dpa) 9.6x10-3 1.0x10-2 2009), Saratoga Springs, New York, May 3-7, 2009.
7. M. SAWAN and P. WALSTROM, "Superconducting
Cu resistivity increase in PF3 (nm) 0.74 (4.7%) 0.77 (4.8%) Magnet Radiation Effects in Fusion Reactors,"
Fusion Technology 10/3, 741 (1986).
VIII. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS 8. R. D. STAMBAUGH et al., Research Thrusts Made
Possible by a Fusion Development Facility, General
3-D neutronics analysis was performed using the Atomics White Paper WP 09-01 (2009);
CAD model of the new baseline design of FDF. Two http://burningplasma.org/web/ReNeW/whitepapers/1-
blanket concepts were considered; Dual Coolant Lead 01%20FDF_ReNeW_Brief_Final.PDF
Lithium (DCLL), and Helium Cooled Ceramic Breeder 9. H. LIU, et al., Neutronics Assessment of the
(HCCB). Based on the neutron wall loading results, the Shielding and Breeding Requirements for FNSF
fusion power was reduced to 240 MW yielding a peak OB (Standard Aspect Ratio), accepted for publication in
NWL of 2 MW/m2 and a fluence of 6 MW-yr/m2. The Fusion Engineering & Design. 2010.
tritium breeding ratio was shown to adequate for both 10. D.L. ALDAMA and A. TRKOV, FENDL-2.1,
blankets with a minor blanket configuration change in the Update of an Evaluated Nuclear Data Library for
divertor region. The FS VV is re-weldable during the Fusion Applications, Report INDC(NDS)-476,
lifetime of the machine. Modest nuclear heating, atomic International Atomic Energy Agency (2004).
displacements and conductor resistivity increase occur in 11. M. SAWAN, and M. ABDOU, Updated Tritium
the TF, OH, and PF coils. While the cumulative end-of- Breeding Requirement in FNSF, presented at the
life organic insulator dose levels in the TF and OH coils FNST meeting, 18-20 August 2009, UCLA, (posted
are acceptable, it is recommended that the PF coil in the on website http://www.fusion.ucla.edu/FNST/).
divertor region be moved vertically farther away from the 12. M. SAWAN, H. KHATER, and S. ZINKLE,
mid-plane to allow adding ~15 cm of shield to reduce the Nuclear Features of the Fusion Ignition Research
peak insulator dose to an acceptable level. Experiment (FIRE), Fusion Engineering & Design,.
63-64, 547 (2002).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 13. S.J. ZINKLE, Fundamental Radiation Effects
Parameters in Metals and Ceramics, Radiat. Eff.
Funding for this work was provided by the US Def. Solids, 148, 447 (1999).
Department of Energy. 14. S.J. ZINKLE and S.A. FABRITSIEV, Copper
Alloys for High Heat Flux Structure Applications,
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