COMPUTER-AIDED-DESIGN OF OPERATIONAL UNITS FOR TRITIUM RECOVERY FROM LI17PB83 BLANKET OF A DEMO FUSION-REACTOR

The problem of tritium recovery from Li17Pb83 blanket of a DEMO fusion reactor is analyzed with the objective of limiting tritium permeation into the cooling water to acceptable levels. To this aim, a mathemati cal model describing the tritium behaviour in blanket/recovery unit ci rcuit has been formulated. By solving the model equations, tritium per meation rate into the cooling water and trituim inventory in the blank et are evaluated as a function of dimensionless parameters describing the combined effects of overall resistance for tritium transfer from L i,,Pb,, alloy to cooling water, circulating rate of the molten alloy i n blanket/recovery unit circuit and extraction efficiency of tritium r ecovery unit. The extraction efficiency is, in turn, evaluated as a fu nction of the operating conditions of recovery unit. The design of tri tium recovery unit is then optimized on the basis of the above paramet ric analysis and the results are herein reported and discussed for a t ritium permeation limit of 10 g/day into the cooling water.