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Liquid lithium wall blanket? I've heard the use of Lithium as a tritium breeder (which is important, assuming we're committed to duterium-tritium fusion), but
by joncrane 6y ago
Liquid lithium wall blanket? I've heard the use of Lithium as a tritium breeder (which is important, assuming we're committed to duterium-tritium fusion), but never as a liquid. it makes sense though because in that case you don't have to completely disassemble the tokamak and replace the neutron blanket every few years(?). But again the technology to completely coat the inside of the tokamak in an even layer of liquid lithium has got to be daunting. What goes between the lithium and the plasma?
- willis936 6y agoBeryllium coated tungsten and a copper-tungsten weave. This is still a hot area of research. It will be part of the research done at ITER and DTT (Divertor Tokamak Test facility).
- pfdietz 6y agoThe Achilles Heel of fusion is low volumetric power density. This is because all the energy has to go through the first wall, which has limited area compared to the surfaces of fuel pins in a fission reactor. So, there's been effort to try to maximize the power/area at the first wall. One part of that is the power that directly strikes the surface (ions, electrons, photons). The capacity to carry away this heat is limited by the strength of the wall material and its thermal conductivity, a fact that was pointed out by Pfirsch and Schmitter in the 1980s. https://pure.mpg.de/rest/items/item_2131865_1/component/file_2131864/content https://pure.mpg.de/rest/items/item_2131865_1/component/file... (see section 4.1.1) One could raise this limit by doing away with a solid wall (with its limits on thermal conductivity and stress) and instead using a liquid wall. This would also address erosion of the wall by sputtering, and help reduce damage from plasma disruptions (which may well otherwise be a showstopper for tokamaks.)