The EU power plant conceptual study - neutronic design analyses for near term and advanced reactor models

Abstract

A power plant conceptual study (PPCS) has been conducted in the framework of the European fusion programme with the main objective to demonstrate the safety and environmental advantages and the economic viability of fusion power. Power plant models with limited (''near term concepts'') and advanced plasma physics and technological extrapolations (''advanced concepts'') were considered. Two near term plant models were selected, one employing a water cooled lithium-lead (WCLL), and the other one a helium cooled pebble bed (HCPB) blanket. Two variants were also considered for the advanced power plant models, one adopting a liquid metal blanket with a self-cooled lithium-lead breeder zone and a helium cooled steel structure (''dual coolant lithium lead'', DCLL), and the other one a self-cooled lithium-lead (SCLL) blanket with SiC_f/SiC composite as structural material. This report provides a detailed documentation of the neutronics design analyses performed as part of the PPCS study for both the near term and advanced power plant models. Main issues are the assessment of the tritium breeding capability, the evaluation of the nuclear power generation and its spatial distribution, and the assessment and optimisation of the shielding performance. The analyses were based on three-dimensional Monte Carlo calculations with the MCNP code using suitable torus sector models developed for the different PPCS plant variants. (orig.)