Low activity aluminum blanket

Current studies aim at the design of minimally radioactive blankets for experimental and commercial Tokamak reactors. The blanket designs are essentially cooled cylindrical wrought or sintered (SAP) aluminum canisters filled with a ceramic bed of moderating, shielding, and possibly tritium-breeding materials. The wrought aluminum oval-shaped shell is maintained at approximately 2000C by cooling water; a SAP shell at 4000C by helium. For an experimental reactor (EPR) with wall loading = 1 MW(th)/m2, some 45% of the fusion energy is removed by this circuit. The other 55% is deposited in internal SiC or B4C and removed by a separate He stream learing at 8000C. For a commercial reactor with wall loading = 2.5 MW(th)/m2, both Al alloys are employed. (Auth.)