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Fast-fission tokamak breeder reactors

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Abstract

A fast-fission blanket around a fusion plasma exploits high neutron multiplication for superior breeding and high-energy multiplication to generate significant net electrical power. A major improvement over previous fast-fission blanket concepts is the use of mobile fuel, namely a pebble-bed configuration with helium cooling. Upon loss of coolant, the mobile fuel can be gravity-dumped to a separately cooled dump tank before excessive temperatures are reached. The pebble bed is also compatible with rapid fuel exchange and a low-cost reprocessing method. With the ignited tokamak plasma producing 620 MW of fusion power, the net electric power is 1600 MWe and the annual fissile production exceeds 3 tonnes.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, 08544, Princeton, New Jersey

    D. L. Jassby

  2. Energy Development Group, TRW, 90278, Redondo Beach, California

    D. H. Berwald, J. Garner & R. H. Whitley

  3. GA Technologies, 92138, San Diego, California

    I. Maya & C. P. C. Wong

  4. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 94550, Livermore, California

    J. D. Lee & R. W. Moir

Authors
  1. D. L. Jassby
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  2. D. H. Berwald
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  3. J. Garner
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  4. R. H. Whitley
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  5. I. Maya
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  6. C. P. C. Wong
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  7. J. D. Lee
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  8. R. W. Moir
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Jassby, D.L., Berwald, D.H., Garner, J. et al. Fast-fission tokamak breeder reactors. J Fusion Energ 5, 171–180 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01050611

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01050611

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