ANALYSIS OF THE ENERGY-TRANSPORT AND DEPOSITION WITHIN THE REACTION CHAMBER OF THE PROMETHEUS INERTIAL FUSION ENERGY REACTOR

The thermodynamic response of the Prometheus reactor chamber was analy zed and, from this analysis, a simplified thermodynamic response model was developed for parametric studies on this conceptual reactor desig n. This paper discusses the thermodynamic response of the cavity gas a nd models the condensation/evaporation of vapor to and from the first wall. Models of X-ray attenuation and ion slowing down are used to est imate the fraction of the pellet energy that is absorbed in the vapor. It was found that the gas absorbs enough energy to become partially i onized. To treat this problem, methods developed by Zel'dovich and Rai zer are used in modeling the internal energy and the radiative heat fl ux of the vapor. From this analysis, RECON was developed, which runs w ith a relatively short computational time, yet retains enough accuracy for conceptual reactor design calculations. The code was used to dete rmine whether the reactor designs could meet the stringent mass densit y limits that are placed on them by the physics of beam propagation th rough matter. RECON was also used to study the effect that the formati on of a local dry spot would have on the first wall of the reactor. It was found that, for a typical reactor lifetime of 30 years, the first wall could not have a dry spot over any one section for more than 15. 5 min for the laser driver design and 4.5 min for the heavy ion driver design. These times are relatively short, which implies that there is a need to keep the liquid film attached at all times.