19/04/2023 brenergy@leabrook.co.uk 1

THE NEED FORSMALL FUSION REACTORS

Brendan McNamara, Leabrook Computing,2008

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

19/04/2023 brenergy@leabrook.co.uk 2

GLOBAL NUCLEAR ENERGY

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0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

GLOBAL NUCLEAR GROWTH

GEN II PWR GEN III PWR GT-MHR BREEDER

YEAR

GIG

AW

AT

T-Y

EA

RS

GW

Ye

GEN II PWRs

GEN III PWRs

GT-MHRs

SFRs

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NUCLEAR ENERGY STALLS

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 501E+00

1E+01

1E+02

1E+03

1E+04

1E+05

1E+06

BREEDER STARTUP FROM SPENT PWR FUEL

SPENT PWR RECYCLE TRU SPENT SFR

YEARS FROM 2000

TO

NN

ES

RECYCLE PWR FUEL

TRU STOCK

SFR REFUEL

PWR SPENT FUEL

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SLOWER GROWTH MISSES ALL TARGETSLOW GROWTH IN RECESSION

LEAVES NUCLEAR AS MINOR PLAYER AT ~20%

MEDIUM GROWTH LEADS TOTIGHT MARKETS FOR MINED URANIUMENERGY INDEPENDENCE FOR A FEW

MASSIVE USE OF WIND & SOLAR AT 3X$OR

COAL + RUNAWAY GLOBAL WARMING

RECYCLING + FUSION FUEL BREEDING CHANGES ALL SCENARIOS

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BREEDING FISSILE FUEL • 1T PLUTONIUM 1000 GWTH-days• 1T D-T FUEL 5000 GWTH-days

& 16 X NEUTRONS ALL AT 14.1 MeV

• 1 FUSION FROM HOT FUEL 17.1 MeV• 1 FISSION from a COLD NEUTRON 200 Mev

• TRANSMUTATION OF U-238 ……• 1 kg FUSION NEUTRONS 239 kg Pu

OR, WITH MULTIPLIER 360 kg Pu

HOT NEUTRONS IS THE PRIMARY PRODUCT!

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DEPLETED URANIUMDEPLETED URANIUMA MAJOR RESOURCE

ENOUGH DU IN UK TO RUN ALL ELECTRIC ECONOMY

FOR 500 YEARS

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START @ CULHAM

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NSTX PRINCETON

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TOKAMAK CONFINEMENT

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MAST & NSTX PERFORMANCE

• IPB98: tE = 0.0562 Ip0.93 Bt

0.15 R1.97 (a/R)0.58 M0.19 ne0.41 k0.78 P_in-0.69

• NSTX: Kaye et al. B SCALING MUCH STRONGER THAN ITER• Valovic et al., CULHAM: SIMILAR FOR COMBINED MAST/NSTX

DATA

• Kaye-Valovic: (MAST-type):

tE = Cp Ip 0.51-0.59 Bt

1.08-1.6 R1.97 (a/R)0.58 M0.19 ne0.0-0.44 k0.78

Pin-0.73

• McNAMARA: SELF CONSISTENT POINT MODEL FOR

I , B, T, n , P-fusion & tE,

WITH PLASMA PROFILES & GIVEN MAGNETIC GEOMETRY

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MICRO-INSTABILITY

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ST DESIGN SPACESPlasma N, Te, Ti Profiles

02

468

10

121416

1820

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

Radius

Prof

ile

10*N Te Ti Ion Energy

Fusion Profile

0.000E+00

2.000E-01

4.000E-01

6.000E-01

8.000E-01

1.000E+00

1.200E+00

1.400E+00

1.600E+00

1.800E+00

2.000E+00

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1

Fusion Profile

-5

-4

-3

-2

-1

0

1

2

3

4

5

-4 -2 0 2 4

Chamber Wall Plasma Boundary

50% Fusion core

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BIG & COOL 25MW REACTORMAGNETICFIELD

R=1.50a= 0.94Kappa= 3.00Eps= 0.63 Delta=0.40 Bt=3.25

PLASMA

Ip=6.00Beta=5.54N20-peak=0.65 Ti-peak=10.01Te-peak= 7.68 H=1.10

2.00 2.20 2.40 2.60 2.80 3.00 3.20 3.40 3.60 3.80 4.000

1

2

3

4

5

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8

9

10

SST-Pu BIG & COOL @ P-f=25 R=1.5, a=.94alf_n=0.75, alf-Ti=0.75,alf-Te=0.6, Ti=5.72,Te=4.8

I-p 0.1*Beta% QIPB(1.6) Q-KV(1.1) 0.1*P-in KV

Toroidal Field B-t

Te

sla

or

Ra

tio

s

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FIRST WALL NEUTRON DAMAGE

Sergei Dudarev, ITER Materials Chair, Imperial College & Culham

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DEPLETED URANIUM TOPLUTONIUM REACTOR FUEL

MOIR 1985

Cleanest fuel Breeding cycleEver.

Low radioactivity.

No need forFission Breeders.

Enough DepletedUranium in SellafieldFor 500 years of anAll electric UK!

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FUSION NEUTRONS

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THORIUM & U-233

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CROSS BREEDING FUEL

MHR Tritium Production vs Neutron Fraction

0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

3.00

3.50

4.00

4.50

5.00

0.05 0.1 0.15 0.2

fT, Neutron Fraction for Li-6 Breeding

Tri

tiu

m P

rod

uc

tio

n (

kg

)

6x MHR600s 4x MHR 600s 3x MHR600s

SST P-Fusion vs Breeding Fraction

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

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b-Pu, Pu Breeding per Triton burned

Fu

sio

n P

ow

er (

MW

)

3 x 600MWth MHRs 4 x 600MWth MHRs

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5 MISSIONS FORSMALL FUSION REACTORS

1. BREED Pu FROM DU – CLEAN, LOW RADIOACTIVITY

2. BREED U-233 FROM THORIUM

3. BREED TRITIUM FOR SFusR FLEETS

4. DESTROY LONG LIVED FISSION PRODUCTS

5. FUSION-FISSION POWER REACTORS WITH RECYCLED Pu

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SCALING1. MULTIPLE UNITS HIGH AVAILABILITY, EASY

MAINTENANCE

2. LOW POWER EXPENSIVE ELECTRICITY

3. ITER MATERIALS REQUIRED FOR FUSION POWER DEVELOPMENT

4. FAST REACTORS UNECCESSARY

5. OPERATED UNDER OUR STRICT NUCLEAR SAFEGUARDS LOCKDOWN.

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LASER FUSION BREEDER

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Be MULTIPLIER SPECTRUM

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LIFE & ST BLANKETS

Seed the startup. Run slowly shifting fuel balance. Thorium version, Moir 2008

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LLNL FUSION ACHIEVEMENTS

MAJOR COMPONENTS OF FUSION PROGRAMMES

SUPERB TECHNICAL ABILITY

INVENTIONS

MICROSTABLE PLASMAS

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OTHER FUSION HYBRIDS?

• Q~5 FUSION FUEL FACTORIES• A NEW GOALPOST

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LIQUID WALL MIRROR

• 10-15M CENTRAL COLUMN 30MW

• VERTICAL FOR EASY LIQUID WALL DESIGN.

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10A/20keV NEUTRAL BEAM

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BEST US COMPUTING

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SUPERCONDUCTING MAGNETS

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RESTORE THE

US FUSION PROJECTS!

OBAMA: $150Bn forRenewable Energy & Nuclear?

Yucca Mtn $25Bn diverted?

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ANOTHER FUSION FATE

ALIENTECHNOLOGYBURIEDATSECRETGOVERNMENTSITE

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GROWING UP WITH FUSION

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GROWING UP WITH FUSION

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ST POWER REACTORS

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SUPPORTING SLIDES

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IAEA FUSION CONF., GENEVA

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D3D @ GENERAL ATOMIC

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TRISO fuel in fuel blocks

Electricity

Hydrogen

LWRSpent Fuel

TRISO

Low-Enriched UraniumTRISO

Common Reactor Core - Ultra Safe Design

Weapons Surplus Pu

TRISO

LithiumBreedsTritium

1.7 kg/GW-y

Heat

MHRs can also use diverse fuels in same core design:because of properties of graphite and helium

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RECYCLING ‘SPENT FUEL’PWR

Breeding Ratio 0.6

UREX

93% U

2.5% Fissile

5.5%FP

PWR FUEL

4.5% 235U

95.5% 238U

SPENT FUEL1.1% 235U

92.0% 238U

0.12% Acts.

1.3% Pu

5.5% ASH-Fission

Products

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U-235 & Pu-239 FISSION

Shows why thermal reactors are easiest to build,.Plutonium is best for bombs. Fusion and Fast Reactors can burn anything. Australian Uranium Association

Fusion14.1 Mev

19/04/2023 brenergy@leabrook.co.uk 42

DEEP BURN GT-MHR

4842

3630

24

General Atomics: Inflammable – No Meltdown – Burns U, Pu, Actinide Waste –

High Temperature (900 C) – 50% Thermal Efficiency – No Pu leakage –

300 year ILW.Russian Weapons Pu Burner

19/04/2023 brenergy@leabrook.co.uk 43

VI. MILLION YEAR TRISO FUEL

Any enriched Fuel: U, Pu, Actinides

Contains all fission Products for 1 million years

No Pu leakage to contaminate structures No long lived ILW

19/04/2023 brenergy@leabrook.co.uk 44

MOLTEN SALT THORIUM BREEDER

232Th + n 233Pa + b- + g 233U + b-

DBERR BUREAUCRACY

HAS WITHDRAWN THE UK

FROM PARTICIPATION IN

THE GENERATION IV PROGRAMME

2007

• THORIUM:• Good for

another 3000 Years

• France leads Gen IV research on:

• PWRs• MHRs• MSThBR• GCFR• SFR• Recycling

• UK Selling out

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UK Committee on Radioactive Waste Management

• Propose geological storage for all spent fuel, depleted Uranium, and ILW.

WRONG

• Should build Nuclear Fuel Vaults good for 1000 years.

• Should build Advanced Fuel Cycle & TRISO reprocessing plants.

• Should reserve all 300 year ‘waste’ of valuable metals.

• Should put the small amounts of ash and long lived waste in deep disposal.

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URANIUM MARKETSIAEA RED BOOK URANIUM

RANK Mt MINE PWRS

DATE

KNOWN 3.2 2000 207

EXPECTED 5.1 2020 330

SPECULATIVE 12.1 2030 784

MIT GUESS 80 2030 5174

SEAWATER 4000 ???? 258699

MUST EXTRACT FROM ENTIRE GULF STREAM!

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FUEL ENRICHMENT

Spent fuel is still 95% fuelAll Thorium, Uranium, Plutonium, Neptunium, & higher Actinides

can be transmuted and fissioned.

Each tonne can yield ~1000 GWth-days

Enough Uranium to run 10,000 reactors for 2000 years.