Izvestiya vuzov. Yadernaya Energetika

The peer-reviewed scientific and technology journal. ISSN: 0204-3327

Simulation of a Thermonuclear Plant with an Internal Catalytic Cycle

6/15/2021 2021 - #02 Modelling processes at nuclear facilities

Stolbov S.N. Drobyshevsky Yu.V. Anfimov I.M. Varlachev V.A. Kobeleva S.P. Nekrasov S.A. Korzhenevsky A.V.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.26583/npe.2021.2.13

UDC: 621.039, 53.05, 53.043

The article presents the results of field experimental studies, which have confirmed the possibility of effective control of thermal neutron fluxes, and their quantitative assessment is obtained. The authors have developed a theoretical model that makes it possible to simulate the processes and quantitatively evaluate the effects. The efficiency of the design of an anisotropic concentrator of thermal neutrons from a diffuse neutron field with elliptical channels made in the form of packages of plates of profiled graphite and aluminum was experimentally confirmed. The experiments were carried out in the GEC-4 channel at the IRT-T NI TPU reactor. The integral neutron flux was (2.3–3.02)1017 cm–2. The neutron flux was detected by the change in the electrical resistivity of monocrystalline silicon wafers. The effect of concentration of thermal neutrons was registered both on a group of graphite neutron mirrors and on a set of aluminum thin-walled elliptical mirrors.

These results are the basis for creating a new scheme of thermonuclear reactors with a catalytically supported approach to the implementation of thermonuclear energy. The fuel mixture is heated and burned out when helium-3 interacts with thermal neutrons, while the fuel cycle of a reactor closed in tritium, helium-3 and neutrons is being formed. A new scheme of thermonuclear reactors with a catalytically supported approach to the implementation of thermonuclear energy, internal neutron heating of the plasma and its catalytically stabilized composition is proposed. Preliminary numerical simulation made it possible to conclude that a thermonuclear fusion reactor with an internal catalytic cycle is quite feasible, while it can be quite compact, and its implementation does not require significant financial costs.

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thermonuclear reactor catalytically closed internal fuel cycle control of thermal neutron flux selective separation effect of thermal neutrons radial magnetic dynamic (RMHD) generator

Link for citing the article: Stolbov S.N., Drobyshevsky Yu.V., Anfimov I.M., Varlachev V.A., Kobeleva S.P., Nekrasov S.A., Korzhenevsky A.V. Simulation of a Thermonuclear Plant with an Internal Catalytic Cycle. Izvestiya vuzov. Yadernaya Energetika. 2021, no. 2, pp. 145-155; DOI: https://doi.org/10.26583/npe.2021.2.13 (in Russian).

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