2. REACTOR PHYSICS 2.1 BUSION PHYSICS The basis of fusion power is the mass defect principle, This is the observation that the mass of any nucleus (except hydrogen) is less that the sum of the individual protons and neutrons. Plotting mass defect vs. mass number for the ele- nts shows that fusion of light elements or fission of heavy elements will increase the sass defect of the prod- ucts. This defect appears as kinetic energy in the products and as heat and light. The problem is getting two nuclei to fuse. This requires that the kinetic energy be high enough to overcome the coulombic repulsion. This works out to be about 360 Kev for hydrogen nuclei. For lighter particles the change in the mass defect of the products is greater and the coulombic forces are smaller, so these types of atoms are more attractive for fusion. The required energy is achieved through heating a plasma. The kinetic energy of the particles is given by 3/2 kT. Two important points are that at any temperature some particles will have the re- quired energy and that only a small fraction of the nuclei need to fuse to produce an appreciable amount of energy. For these reasons the actual heat energy required is an or der of magnitude less than the coulombic energy.The reactions of interest are 1, D#D He +n + 3.2 Mev 2, D+T He +n + 17.6 Mev where Dis Deuterium and T is ‘Tritium.[3] Deuterium is available in nature and is non-radioactive. Tritium must be man-made and is radioactive. The kinetic energy of the neu- trons is also greater in the second reaction. For reasons that will be shown later, the disadvantages of the D-T reac- tion are outweighed by other factors. These factors deter- nine the characteristics of the reactor. The most important of these are: 1. n, the number density of the reactants 2. t, the confinement time 3. 1, the plasma temperature 4. B, the magnetic field necessary for confinement of the plasma. The first three can be derived from the power balance con- siderations covered below.[4] Calculation of 8B will be done in a later section. The first power problem is how to get self-sustaining re- action. The minimum requirement is that the energy input to the reactor be equal to the output energy. The output power consists of the power produced by fusion. The output energy is this power multiplied by the confinement time for a pulsed reactor, t For a continuous operation reactor t would be some average confinement time for the particles.The input energy is the energy to heat the plasma to igni- tion plus the energy to replace that lost by radiating par- ticles. The former is 3/2 nkT(i) + 3/2 nkT(e). The latter is tPyad - The energy balance then becomes 3mkT + tPag=t Pasion energy in = energy out This is the simple form of the what is called the Lawson criterion. However, if the total energy (input + output) can be converted with an efficiency @, the requirement for useful energy production is: € (Peas + tPrad 4 SnkT) 7 SnkT + tPrad Which can be written: BnkT + tPrad + tPeusion > | & BnkT + tPrad Using an efficiency of conversion of 1/3, a value common to many power plants, and rearranging gives: 2 R= Pag JB nzkT ae | Yat + Prod /3n2kT Values for the above quantities will now be calculated. The radiated power is due the radiation emitted by accelerating electrons. This acceleration is due to two effects. The first is from an electron accelerating in the prescence of an ion due to the electric field. This is called Bremsst- rahlung. The second occurs in a toroidal configuration vhenthe electrons are moving in a circle. This is called cyclo- tron radiation. While it is usually negligible compared to Bremastrablung losses, the small size of the OHT# makes it important. The positive ions are neglected for radiation loss calculations because of their relatively heavy masses. The formulae for theses losses can be written as: =, ue (Gram) wee, pr watts fem? Co” peel ne TS (né> fNonr for +he D-T reaction The power from fusion reactions can be calculated from the reaction rate multiplied by the energy liberated per reac- tion. The reaction rate is given by: ie a oe o 3 bef £7 €% lA -Hl oH AB-F)) d3y, dFvy w% Using a Maxwell distribution and transferring to center of mass coordinates, gives: ~ py? | 4 is 3 = yet 7 Vv 2eT r ans (Siay dvoWvje where (4 is the reduced sass and OW) is the "Gamow" cross-section: A _~ B/eVEret cope ee io (Ree & yeerelie 27a NM. Where A and B depend on the reaction. Substituting for the cross-section and integrating gives aS CHF Ges ls rop= 2.2"10 14 ny- es) iS 18. #/OcT) Lye, ie ys Yor = 3-7x tot® Nons (kr. i e 20 Cur = 9Assuming a temperature of 10 Kev and 100 keV for both ri ic tions and reseabering that the energy released by the alpha particles is 8.3 MeV and 3.5 MeV in the D-D and D-T reac- tions, respectivly, the power densities can be calculated For the D-D reaction: Ppp (10 keV) = 3x107?! yo% Pend Py» (100 kev= 107%4 No For the D-T reaction: Por Clo kev) = 6x10" Nore P,, (100 kev) = 45X07? ny hr Taking the values for the fusion and radiation power giv- en above and inserting them into the Lawson criterion, shows that the important factor is the product nt. Plots of R for different values of nt indicates that this product must be on the order of 106, power density considerations are used to set a value for n. Too low a number density will not provide enough power to make the reactor viable to run. To high a density will pro- duce a plasma that cannot be contained. Calculating n vith these two constraints gives a value on the order of 10/8. The temperatures used above were not chosen at randon. Por a given reactor, there will be sone plasma pressure that cannot be contained by the magnetic field used in the reac-tor. Therefore the magnetic pressure sets a limit on the kinetic pressure and therefore on n. Substituting: P (max) /kT = n (max) in the reaction rate laws gives: ry cove Plotting this expression vs. temperature yields the graph in figure (1). Prom this, it is seen that the optimum temper- ature of operation for the D-T reaction is an order magni- tude less than the D-D reaction. for this reason the D-T reaction is the one of interest to fusion researchers and will be the only reaction considered for the rest of this paper. The next problem that must be considered is how to get the plasma up to this operating temperature. The method used in the OHTE is ohmic heating. A solenoid in-placed at the center of the toroid generates a current which causes the plasma to act like a secondary in a trans- former. The electrons in the plasma then transfer their en- ergy to the ions in the plasma causing it to heat. The con- ditions necessary for this are shown in figure (2).[5] Where plasma current is plotted vs plasma radius, The lower line ¢ shows the minimum current required for alpha particle con- finement. The alpha particles are used to compensate for radiation losses from the plasma. © The dotted area shows where ohmic ignition is feasible. Line A shows where ohmic heating equals radiation losses, As will be shown in a lat- er section, a moving plasma generates a magnetic field thata $i en? 1688 deetiev 2 1 " 0. 0.01 cow), CEN, 1 100 T(kev) Figure | Reaction rate asa function of temperature (Mil, 1967), nition point = LP. EP for TT > 100 keV.ALC. TRANS. + BREMS. 10 TESLA LIMIT (PINCH) ALCATOR PLASMA TRANSPORT CURRENT ALONE (MA) 10 TESLA LIMIT (TOKAMAK) 0 01 0.2 03 04 05 MINOR RADIUS (M) Fig. 2 Diagram for ignition by ohmic heating :must be compensated for by a toroidal field. The limit on this field is ten tesla, which defines a upper limit on the dotted area. For the OMTE with a plasma minor radius of .3 meters, a current on the order of ten megamperes is needed. The danger here is that the electrons aay aot give up their energy and leave the plasma, a phenomenon called "electron runaway".[6] AS the plasma heats up, the resistivity de- creases, so there is a limit as to the temperature that can be reached. For the OTE it is not yet known if the plasma must be initiated using an auxilliary system or if the cur- rent alone will be enough to cause the gas to breakdown. 2.2 KANAKS The basic idea of the tokamak approach is simple: the plasma is confined by a toroidal magnetic field which bends the plasma in a circle, eliminating the need for magnetic mir- rors.* the field lines are denser on the inside of the Toka- mak. Since this results in canceling the tendency of the plasma to move outward, the tokamak is called a “minimus B” configuration. The T-field by itself introduces sacro- and micro-instabilities. Macroscopic instabilities refer to those acting on the plasma as a fluid. The most important effect is the verticle notion induced as a by-product of the sinimun-B effect. The particles in the plasma are traveling in spirals perpendicu- lar to the toroidal direction. This allows their path to be are 3 ¥see F=}___ LAMINATED TRANSFORMER. CORE” ~ COPPER STABILIZING SHELL STAINLESS STEEL LINER 2 insucateo suit =7 ay MAGNETIC. FIELD UNE Figure 38D Basic Tokamak Apparatus: a toroidal plasma confined in a helical magnetic field created by the superposition of strong, externally generated toroidal field and the poloidal field generated by the plasma current. The plasma current, induced by transformer action, resistively heats the plasma (afier Ref. (201). TORONDAL FIELD COWS, ~ _effected by the nonhomogenous magnetic flux density. The radius of curvature will increase as the path moves away from the center of the toroid and decreasee in the opposite direction, causing a net verticle motion up or down depend- ing on the charge of of the particle. Nicroinstabilities are the way charged particles react because of the differ- ence in charges. In this case, the different directions of verticle motions cause an electric field which can lead to more particle loss. Both of these instabilities can be elim- inated by introducing a helical twist to the toroidal field. This twist causes the particles to follow a helical tra- jectory canceling net vertical motion.[7] There are four ma~ jor ways of achieving this (see fig.5)[8] The axisyametric coluan configurations produce a helical pitch by manipulating the plasma. Helically symmetric plas- mas are induced by the action of external coils. The bottom row plasmas are of the reversed field pinch (RFP) type. This refers to the plasma seen in figure (6). In the RFP and the OHTE the outer magnetic field flows in the reverse direction of the plasma current. This reversed field is tied into the value of q cited on the left of figure (5). The rovs are delineated by something called the ‘q-value! This q value and another parameter called A, determine ia- portant reactor properties. Q is defined as the number of times the helices twist around the toroid in the poloidal (small radius) directiongaezencn | AXISYMMETRIC HELICAL | TOKAMAK STELLARATOR q>t FAL (RFP) Fig. $. Toroidal magnetic confinement systemsTOROIDAL PLASMA TOROIDAL a) SIMPLE TOROIDAL Z-PINCH CURRENT POLOIDAL MAGNETIC FIELD b) Z-PINCH WITH PITCH REVERSAL (RFP) ©) OHTE Fig. 6. Toroidal Pincheswhile making one revolution in the toroidal (large radius) e direction. written in equation for: a= 2m where & is the number of poloidal turns.[9] It can be shown that 2 oe. Be e b R Be T= minor radius of plasma R= mayor radius e Bp/Bz= ratio of poloidal te toroidal field For an ordinary tokamak stability criterion dictate that / (p) aust greater than one. The physical reasoning behind this e is that too many rotations would cause the plasma to kink and become unstable. This 1ii ts the poloidal beta and therefore the plasma current. However, ohmic heating re- e quires large plasma currents, causing q to be less than one as indicated in figure 5. This is where the RFP cones in. It provides the stability lost by running at q values less e than one. The given ratio of the toroidal field to poloidal field is one to one in order for the plasma to become ONTE- like.[10] This gives q~ .10. The pinch effect concentrates e the toroidal field in such a way that the external field re- quired is about half of the interior value.[11] Although the ratio's of the magnetic field have heen discussed, actual e values have not been calculated. The parameter is neces- sary. Beta is the ratio of the plasma kinetic pressure to the total magnetic pressure required to contain it: nkT/ 87/2 po aieFor the OHTE the magnetic field of interest is that generat- ed by the electrically induced current in the plasma. The magnetic field induced by a current is I/5r gauss. The cur- rent needed to heat the plasma is about ten megamps. From a previous discussion the density of the plasma is on the or- aer of 10'*ew' and the temperature is about 10 kev. This gives a value for beta of about .40. In order to derive the required magnetic field from this value the phenomenon of magnetic confinement aust be examined more closely. or a plasaa in equilibrius, momentum balance equations lead to the resul' p + 3% sam = constant. ay where p is the kinetic pressure of the plasma.[12] B /8x has units of energy/volume=force/area and can be thought of as the magnetic pressure. Requiring the pressure, p to go to zero at the edge of of the plasma gives the value of the constant tera, 8% saw. where B is the external field. This implies that B<3g inside the plasma which indicates that plasma4$ diamagnetic. Using the definition of B= pet 78% and combining with equation (1 ) gives = BS Pore al arose The largest/4 can be is one, corresponding to a perfectly diamagnetic plasma. Given the poloidal 4 , the Dadctir A can be calculated as follows: 2 # Glasstme, pp. 50-55 aeIt vould seem then that a high beta, low gq reactor is good. There is a tradeoff though. High beta means that the magnetic field does not penetrate the plasma, which decreas- es control over stabilities. Oppositely, low beta gives good control but a larger field is required. Once a stable fu- sion reaction is going the next problem is to convert the products to useful energy. 2.3 ENERGY CONVERSION AND NEOTRONICS The aajority of the energy from the D-T reaction cones off as neutrons. While most reactor schemes include plans to use the alpha particles in some kind of direct conversion setup, the OHTE assumes that these particles are used only as a source of heat. While it is not easy, the energy of the neatrons can be converted into useful energy. The con- version device is a lithium blanket placed just outside of the reactor chamber (fig. (7)). | This is the opposite of the large tokamaks mainly because the since no superconduct- ing magnets are used, the helical coils can be, in fact must be placed close to the plasma. The advantage of this con- figuration is that the blanket is now outside of the plasma chamber, where it is easy to remove and service. The blan- ket will consist of a number of channels which will carry fluids moving at different velocities to maximize the heat transfer. Inside of the blanket will flow a liquid lithius compound, serving both as coolant and working fluid. LiquidTO STEAM GENERATOR atl lin VELOCITY Ste 195 038 4 023 Tt a6 Se Toy" $80°C pLasua Bian? CHARNEL WALLS. uovro SCPOWoER SE Uh i IT mes ae T2350 der. Flow velocities and pooping powers for consercial electricity producer vith Ja neutron wall load.metal has been studied intensively lately because of the high conductivities and therefore high heat transfer rates that can be achieved. The drawback is that liquid metals are highly reactive and the flow is susceptible to magnet field interference. Since the field strength of the magnets in the OHTE are rather low, there should be little interfer- ence. Lithium was chosen because the neutron flux will breed tritium needed for the reactor. The liguid can be re- cycled easily, eliminating waste. Since the liquid will be moving rather slowly, the inside wall of the blanket will be cooled by pressurized water.[13] 3. THE OTE The OHTE initial test reactor (ITR) now being built is shown in figures @and 7. The main features of interest are the various coils surrounding the plasma chamber: H,E,VP. Each of these is crucial to operation of the reac- tor. The E-coils provide the initial breakdown and heating of the plasma with electricity. There are actually two types of coils. The solenoid in the center provides the induc- tance current. The coils on the top and bottom of the plas- a chamber provide a "minimum E" configuration. The #-coils are perhaps the most important and required the most vork to setup correctly. There main function is to produce the reverse field on the outside of the plasma.