Core configuration of a gas-cooled reactor as a tritium production device for fusion reactor

The performance of a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor as a tritium production device is examined, assuming the compound LiAlO2 as the tritium-producing material. A gas turbine high-temperature reactor of 300 MWe nominal capacity (GTHTR300) is assumed as the calculation target, and using the continuous-energy Monte Carlo transport code MVP-BURN, burn-up simulations are carried out. To load sufficient Li into the core, LiAlO2 is loaded into the removable reflectors that surround the ring-shaped fuel blocks in addition to the burnable poison insertion holes. It is shown that module high-temperature gas-cooled reactors with a total thermal output power of 3 GW can produce almost 8 kg of tritium in a year. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.