A Review on the Development of the Heat Sink of the Fusion Reactor Divertor

doi:10.11900/0412.1961.2020.00376

Acta Metall Sin

2021, Vol. 57

Issue (7): 831-844 DOI: 10.11900/0412.1961.2020.00376

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A Review on the Development of the Heat Sink of the Fusion Reactor Divertor

PENG Wuqingliang¹^,², LI Qiang¹(

), CHANG Yongqin³, WANG Wanjing¹^,², CHEN Zhen¹^,², XIE Chunyi¹, WANG Jichao¹, GENG Xiang¹, HUANG Lingming¹^,², ZHOU Haishan¹^,², LUO Guangnan¹^,²

^1.Institute of Plasma Physics, Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS), Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China
^2.University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei 230026, China
^3.School of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing 100083, China

Cite this article:

PENG Wuqingliang, LI Qiang, CHANG Yongqin, WANG Wanjing, CHEN Zhen, XIE Chunyi, WANG Jichao, GENG Xiang, HUANG Lingming, ZHOU Haishan, LUO Guangnan. A Review on the Development of the Heat Sink of the Fusion Reactor Divertor. Acta Metall Sin, 2021, 57(7): 831-844.

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Abstract

Divertor is one of the most important components of the magnetic confinement fusion device, which directly sustains the strong particle flow and high heat load during a harsh service circumstance. The heat sink material that accommodates the operation circumstance of the divertor is one of the crucial prerequisites to perform the normal operation of a fusion reactor. The research and engineering experiences over the past three decades indicate that copper alloys are the best and probably the only material group for the heat sink of the water-cooled target of a divertor owing to its high thermal conductivity, strength, thermal stability, and radiation resistance. However, on account of its performance under the typical irradiation scenario of a divertor in the next step fusion reactor, none of the existing commercial copper alloys can satisfy both the harsh working environment and engineering building requirements in the Chinese Fusion Engineering Test Reactor (CFETR). At present, the design and research of CFETR devices have been conducted and is progressing steadily according to the proposal. Therefore, the development of high-performance copper alloys or copper matrix composites for high heat flux components is essential. In this study, the working condition of the heat sink in the next step fusion reactor divertor was first introduced according to the Roadmap of Fusion Energy of China. Thus, the performance requirements for the heat sink and its potential application limitations in the future fusion reactor divertor were reviewed. Finally, certain countermeasures regarding the heat sink materials were proposed for the CFETR divertor.

Key words: nuclear fusion heat sink copper alloy plasma-facing component divertor

Received: 21 September 2020

ZTFLH:

TG146.1

Fund: National Natural Science Foundation of China(11875288)

About author: LI Qiang, associate professor, Tel: (0551)65591507, E-mail: liqiang577@ipp.ac.cn

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	Wuqingliang PENG
	Qiang LI
	Yongqin CHANG
	Wanjing WANG
	Zhen CHEN
	Chunyi XIE
	Jichao WANG
	Xiang GENG
	Lingming HUANG
	Haishan ZHOU
	Guangnan LUO

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https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/10.11900/0412.1961.2020.00376 OR https://www.ams.org.cn/EN/Y2021/V57/I7/831

Fig.1 Schematic view of ITER tungsten divertor (a), and schematic illustrations of vertical target plasma-facing units (PFUs) (b) and dome PFUs (c) (ITER—International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, OFCu—oxygen free copper)^[11]

Fig.2 CAD model of the DEMO divertor cassette (a) and a target PFC mock-up with a schematic of the cross section (b) (CAD—computer aided design, DEMO—demonstration fusion power plant, PFC—plasma-facing component, ?_in—inner diameter)^[16]

Fig.3 Metallic elements with a thermal conductivity higher than 50 W/(m·K)^[20]

Fig.4 Neutron irradiation effect on the thermal conductivity of GlidCop Al25 IG and CuCrZr IG alloys irradiated to 2 dpa at the temperatures (T_irr) of 150 and 300^oC^[17]

Fig.5 Radiation damage dose effect on the electrical resistivity of GlidCop Al25 IG and CuCrZr IG alloys irradiated at the temperatures of 150 and 300^oC^[17]

Fig.6 Effect of neutron irradiation on initiation fracture toughness (J_0.2BL) of CuAl25 IG0 (a) and CuCrZr (b) alloys (SE(B)—single edge bend, SG—side groove, T_test—test temperature)^[44]

Fig.7 Radiation damage dose effect on the uniform elongation of CuCrZr IG (a) and CuAl25 IG (b) alloys (CR + ann—cross-rolled and annealed at 1000^oC, 1 h; SA + aged—solution annealing at 980°C, 1 h, and ageing at 480°C, 4 h)^[17]

Fig.8 Composition before (black) and after (red) of CuCrZr (a) and Glidcop (b) following a typical irradiation scenario for a divertor in DEMO (appm—atomic parts per million)^[26]

Fig.9 Irradiation-induced volumetric swelling in pure copper and copper alloys at about 400^oC (DS—dispersion strength)^[46]

Fig.10 Equilibrated temperature fields in the pipe of the EU DEMO (ITER-like) PFCs model under three specified HHF loads (left column) and the corresponding thermal stress fields (hoop component) during the HHF loading (middle column) and in the cooling phase at 150^oC (right column) (HHF—high heat flux)^[49]

Table 1 Steady state temperatures of the cooling pipe of the EU DEMO PFCs model at selected positions^[49]

Fig.11 The yield strength of several copper alloys as a function of temperature^[50] (SAA—solution-annealed and aged condition, SA + CW + A—solution-annealed, cold-worked and aged condition, HT—heat treatment, AT—aged treatment)

Fig.12 Yield strength (σ_y/ E', corrected for temperature-dependent elastic modulus E′) vs reciprocal temperature for several copper alloys^[51]

Fig.13 Steady state thermal creep laws for several copper alloy^[52]

Fig.14 Temperature dependence of the fracture toughness of several copper alloys^[51]

Fig.15 Effects of fission neutron irradiation and test temperature on uniform elongation (e_U) and fracture toughness of CuCrZr^[51]

Fig.16 Effect of anneal temperature (holding time of 2 h) on tensile and yield strength of CuCrZr alloy ^[57]

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