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In Fusion reactors the neutrons are used to breed Tritium from the Lithium so they're not hitting the structure and degrading it.
by mlindner 5y ago
In Fusion reactors the neutrons are used to breed Tritium from the Lithium so they're not hitting the structure and degrading it.
- hairytrog 5y agoNot quite. 80% of the energy in D-T fusion reactions are released as neutron energy. I sure hope most of that will be used for generating electrical power rather than breeding tritium... :) The dpa rates and helium embrittlement are way higher for fusion and fast fission reactors than for thermal fission reactors. See Figure 3 and 5 of https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-matsci-070813-113627?casa_token=g6SRx3QSdlgAAAAA:XS7h5izCPupqHSUDSeKudH90tPNVmfOMBFq4WibPX5wHMyb6utJd6dLRhddh8JI2JJfiWRPpkaiI8w https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/abs/10.1146/annurev-matsci...
- marcosdumay 5y agoYou have to absorb the neutrons to capture that energy, so you will always have to deal with transmutation. You can't choose one or the other. On this case, the lithium absorbs the neutrons and convert most of the energy into heat, while it becomes tritium.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- pfdietz 5y agoSo, we have half a meter of lithium just sitting there, not contained in any structure?