Tritium handling and vacuum considerations for the STARFIRE commercial tokamak reactor

Tritium processing and vacuum pumping requirements were analyzed for the STARFIRE commercial fusion reactor design. It was found that vacuum pumps having a helium capture probability of 0.5 (total helium pump speed 1.2 x 104 m3/s) in combination with the proposed STARFIRE limiter-vacuum concept is sufficient to achieve plasma impurity control and, simultaneously, high fractional burnup (11%). The high fractional burnup and minimum fuel recycle time result in a very low fuel cycle tritium inventory, approx. 1300 g. A Lean-T burn method that can further reduce the fuel cycle inventory by 30 to 50% is discussed. D2O is proposed as a first wall coolant from considerations of plasma contamination (due to hydrogen isotope permeation through coolant tubes) and enrichment of recycled tritium from the coolant circuit. Tritium recovery from solid breeders, under realistic structural and breeder materials constraints, appears to represent a formidable task. The tritium inventory in the solid breeder is estimated to be as high as 10 kg, which would make the blanket the largest single hold-up point for tritium in the plant