Low-temperature thermodynamic bottoming cycles for fusion reactors

A modular, gas cooled, solid fusion blanket design is presented with a generalized steady-state thermal-hydraulic analysis of the breeder rod heat exchanger and the surrounding moderator shim. The off-normal thermal analysis of a sample geometry illustrates the possibility of continued operation under the conditions of partial blanket failure assuming a maximum allowable structure temperature of 10000C. In the hydraulic analysis, the combined effects of flatter coolant thermal profile with larger breeder rod radius and the relaxed hydraulic requirement with larger breeder pellets demonstrates the opportunity of increasing the size of the blanket module