ML22307A092
| ML22307A092 | |
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| Issue date: | 11/08/2022 |
| From: | NRC (Affiliation Not Assigned) |
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| Download: ML22307A092 (36) | |
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ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle LLC for the US Department of Energy ORNL Activities to Support Commercial Fusion Kathy McCarthy US ITER Project Director
22 Kathy McCarthy ORNL is the nations largest multi-program science and technology laboratory neutron science computing and data analytics materials and chemical processes isotope R&D and production national security biological and environmental systems energy systems fusion and fission nuclear science, technologies, and systems 2
33 Kathy McCarthy ORNL has over 60 years of experience in fusion Large Coil Test Facility ORMAK Tokamak High Fidelity Modelling Advanced Toroidal Facility Stellarator Advanced Current Experiment Proto-MPEX Pellet Injection 3
44 Kathy McCarthy ORNL contributes fusion expertise around the globe DIII-D (US)
WEST (France)
KSTAR (Korea)
JET (UK)
W 7-X (Germany)
ITER (global collaboration sited in France)
NSTX-U (US) 4
55 Kathy McCarthy Diverse fusion approaches are underway in public and private sectors SPARC l MIT/Commonwealth Fusion Compact Spherical Tokamak Magneto-inertial Configurations Wendelstein 7-x l IPP Max Planck Stellarator Reverse-Field High-field Tokamak NSTX-U l PPPL Norman l TAE Technologies MAST l CCFE ST40 l Tokamak Energy LANL l PLX Plasma Injector l General Fusion Magnetized Target 5
66 Kathy McCarthy Fission reactor history offers lessons for fusion energy development
- The first nuclear plant to provide electrical energy to the US power grid was in 1957
- Deployment increased rapidly for the next 20 years; then from 1979 through 1988, 67 planned builds were canceled (post Three Mile Island)
- Fission plants now operate on average >90%
of the time (including refueling outages and maintenance); fusion should aspire for the same The typical refueling outage duration for U.S. nuclear plants is 35 days and takes place every 18-24 months Inspections and maintenance are performed at the same time as refueling
- Sufficient Technology Readiness Levels of core systems is crucial for widespread adoption of a new energy source Enhanced outage efficiencies impact MWh generation Nuclear power plant capacity 1972-2020 6
77 Kathy McCarthy Fusion is different from fission
- No risk of runaway reactions
- Limited long-lived waste compared to fission products; waste is produced primarily by activation of structural materials
- Proliferation risk is considered lower
- Broadly available fuel supports global energy equity
- Lithium is required to breed tritium for deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel
- Other fuel cycles are under development (each with pros and cons)
- DT fusion produces 14 MeV neutrons compared to 2 MeV neutrons in fission (tritium is an alpha emitter and must be managed)
- The source term and energy to mobilize the source term vary greatly in the fusion designs under consideration 7
88 Kathy McCarthy Comparison of fusion systems with advanced fission Fusion
- Demonstration: Experiments focused on plasma physics
complete fuel cycle not yet demonstrated
- Pilot Plant Designs: in development with a wide variety of options under consideration
- Operating experience: experiments (including with D-T fuels)
- Regulation: in development, with several studies done to inform regulation Advanced Fission Reactors
- Demonstration: technology for most advanced fission reactors under serious consideration have been demonstrated in some form at some scale
- Fuels: multiple qualified fuels, others tested
- (Pilot Plant) Designs: varying maturity depending on the specific technology to be used (water, sodium and gas-cooled demonstrated commercially)
- Operating Experience: varies, but most technologies operated in some form at some scale
- Regulation: depends on country, but most experience is with LWRs 8
99 Kathy McCarthy As a national laboratory, ORNL has critical role to play in resolving technical challenges and reducing risk for a range of future fusion energy approaches Our contributions include:
Sustained R&D to resolve technical challenges and advance technical readiness of diverse fusion systems Integration across technologies for fusion systems Long-range planning for efficient, safe and reliable delivery of fusion energy from source to consumer Our expertise and contributions are important for connecting:
Public R&D program Fusion Pilot Plant (FPP) design activity (in development)
Public-Private Milestone program (in development)
Energy policy for long-term impact 9
10 10 Kathy McCarthy 2021 National Academies report outlines essential fusion technology performance needs for a pilot plant Technology must demonstrate:
Safety Economic viability Cost certainty Regulatory certainty Reliability and availability Note: A fusion pilot plant will need to operate through at least one environmental cycle to demonstrate reliability, availability and maintenance Bringing Fusion to the U.S. Grid 2021 10
11 11 Kathy McCarthy ORNLs fusion focus today: Science, technology +
integration to prepare for a fusion pilot plant We are developing and advancing the:
- Physics basis for a self-sustaining plasma and prepare to capture essential knowledge from ITER and other fusion devices
- Materials that function in the extreme fusion environment
- Fusion fuel cycle, including a fusion blanket that delivers fuel self-sufficiency, efficient heat removal, and neutron shielding
- Integration of advanced manufacturing, AI, and modeling for fusion technologies and systems All of these efforts support resolution of the major technical challenges facing practical, economical fusion 11
12 12 Kathy McCarthy National laboratories support essential input for NRC decisions
- Lessons Learned from the Light Water Reactor Sustainability (LWRS) Program
- Materials and fuels development and qualification
- Efficiencies for operations and maintenance
- Design development and evolution
- Expert input for licensing support 12
13 13 Kathy McCarthy ORNL is contributing to the 3 prime technical challenges that must be resolved to realize practical fusion energy Approximate Technical Readiness Today Fusion Electricity 5
6 7
8 9
Plausible Feasible Practical Fuel Self-Sufficiency
& Harnessing Fusion Power 1
2 3
4 Imaginable Technical Readiness Level (TRL)
Creating and Sustaining a Fusion Power Source Materials to Survive in the Fusion Environment Private fusion values this R&D and will benefit from resolution of these challenges 13
14 14 Kathy McCarthy Challenge 1: Sustained fusion power source To deliver efficient, economical fusion power, fusion reactions must be self-sustaining, where plasma heating is dominated by the fusion reaction itself--not by external heating.
In 2022, the JET tokamak demonstrated 59 megajoules of fusion power for
~5 seconds, a new world record.
Credit: EUROfusion Deuterium-Tritium (DT) fusion reaction is easiest to achieve and the most studied and typically planned.
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15 15 Kathy McCarthy National laboratory resources, such as supercomputing at ORNL, enable modeling and simulation to advance understanding of fusion plasmas Plasma turbulence in the DIII-D tokamak was simulated on ORNLs Summit supercomputer utilizing a new particle-resampling technique. Related publication: C. S. Chang et al., Journal of Computational Physics 409 (May 15, 2020).
A visualization of deuterium-tritium density fluctuations in a tokamak driven by turbulence.
Image Credit: Emily Belli, General Atomics Related Publication: Emily A. Belli and Jeff Candy, Physics of Plasmas 28, no. 6 (2021)
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory DIII-D National Fusion Facility 15
16 16 Kathy McCarthy ITER is designed to demonstrate self-heated 500 MW burning plasma performance at full power US partnership in ITER yields access to 100% of ITER science and technology plus experience with industrial-scale fusion integration at a nuclear-certified facility ORNL manages US ITER in partnership with PPPL and SRNL for the DOE Office of Science 16 ITER is delivering fusion firsts:
- First fusion device categorized as a nuclear installation (France/ASN)
- Power-plant scale vacuum vessel
- Power-plant scale cryoplant
- >10,000 tons of superconducting magnets with a combined stored energy of 51 GJ
- Integrated operations of fusion systems
17 17 Kathy McCarthy ITER know-how and R&D benefits US fusion industry in multiple areas
- Tools and strategies for plasma control and performance
- Superconducting magnet technologies
- Radiation transport analysis
- High-powered plasma heating
- DT fuel cycle technologies
- Continuous plasma fueling
- Fusion materials
- Fusion power and particle handling
- Burning plasma science and diagnostics DOE is establishing a process to facilitate industry access to ITER information of interest ITER tokamak pit (October 2022). Credit: ITER Organization 17
18 18 Kathy McCarthy Challenge 2: Fusion materials
- Fusion environment is much more extreme than that of todays fission reactors:
- Plasma material interactions in a fusion reactor will impact the lifetime of materials
- New materials must be developed to support sustained fusion power operation
- Remote handling for component installation and maintenance is necessary Fusion SiC V alloy, ODS steel F/M steel Credit: S.J. Zinkle,OECD NEA Workshop on Structural Materials for Innovative Nuclear Energy Systems, Karlsruhe, Germany, June 2007 18
19 19 Kathy McCarthy ORNL is home to the largest DOE Office of Science fusion materials program Lab resources support materials development, nuclear evaluation and evaluation of fusion performance Diagram Credit:
Collins et al 2022 Pure tungsten (W) plasma-facing component coupled with mesh structure 19
20 20 Kathy McCarthy New test facilities will be important for fusion industry Materials Plasma Exposure eXperiment (MPEX)
(under construction at ORNL; operations to begin in FY28)
Helicon plasma in Proto-MPEX.
Credit: ORNL MPEX will be a platform to test fusion materials relevant for a fusion pilot plant, enabling life-time exposures in just 2 weeks Tungsten has the highest melting point of any pure metal and is a prime candidate for plasma-facing components for fusion energy.
20
21 21 Kathy McCarthy Challenge 3: Closing the fusion fuel cycle
- Fusion fuels for a pilot plant may be deuterium-tritium (DT) or other fuels
- DT will require the production of tritium, ideally within a fusion reactor
- Extraction of fusion power regardless of fuel must be highly efficient for an economical system
- Management issues to address include tritium inventory, helium ash removal, and neutron-activated structures Test Blanket Component He Coolant PbLi breeder/
coolant Surface Heating Vacuum Enclosure Magnets Schematic of a blanket component test facility ITER will have test blanket modules installed 21
22 22 Kathy McCarthy ORNL is home to the national fusion blanket and fuel cycle program Key R&D: Testing helium cooling strategies for blankets Key R&D: Testing helium cooled plasma facing components under heat loads Additive Manufacturing High heat flux source Program Goal: Develop the basis, design, construct, and operate a Blanket Component Test Facility (BCTF) for fusion systems Additive manufacturing of ribbed piping for improved heat transfer Helium flow loop test stand.
Helium provides advantages over water-based cooling 22
23 23 Kathy McCarthy Industry partners value ORNL expertise, especially in enabling technologies that make fusion systems viable ORNL expertise enables aggressive attempts by private fusion to advance the technical maturity of their concepts and demonstrate component performance ORNL leads the INFUSE Innovation Network for Fusion Industry (65 awards, 19 companies to date)
ORNL supports 22 INFUSE projects for 7 companies Energy Driven Technologies 23
24 24 Kathy McCarthy Interest is high in receiving support for enabling fusion technology areas To move from physics models to practical systems, fusion industry must develop a wide range of design and engineering solutions that can result in integrated systems.
The integrative engineering expertise of DOE national laboratories is essential for these areas, such as:
- Magnets
- Plasma performance management
- Heating systems
- Plasma facing components
- Shielding
- Remote handling
- Tritium processing and management 24
25 25 Kathy McCarthy Additional areas of industry need
- Diagnostics: Diagnostic technologies deliver documentation of fusion performance and insight on plasma conditions. To test, calibrate and demonstrate the performance of novel fusion systems, private industry is partnering with the deep diagnostic expertise of national laboratories and universities.
- Modeling and simulation: Mod-sim using codes established by national laboratories is of great interest to fusion industry to predict the performance, reliability and economics of fusion reactor concepts. In addition, national laboratories offer access to exceptional high performance computing resources.
- Fusion materials: New materials must be developed and tested to deliver for novel fusion systems. Of great interest now for private fusion is the testing and performance documentation of materials such as high temperature superconductors.
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26 26 Kathy McCarthy Test stands and other facilities are also needed by fusion industry
- In addition, fusion industry is interested in access to experimental test stands and tools, whether at current fusion devices or other DOE user facilities
- Needs include materials irradiation, remote handling, and materials analysis
- We expect demands for test stands and user facilities to grow as fusion industry concepts mature and engineering designs under testing 26
27 27 Kathy McCarthy Summary: ORNL is committed to delivering expertise to benefit private fusion
- ORNL brings decades of expertise in fusion science and technology, including a variety of confinement approaches, and offers important resources for fusion industry and NRC needs; our partnerships with other national laboratories are key
- ORNLs support of commercial fission energy brings important knowledge and lessons learned that benefit fusion energy development
- ORNL is addressing the 3 major technical challenges that must be resolved for practical fusion energy.
- ORNL is working effectively with fusion industry and is providing key contributions to enabling technologies
- As a national laboratory, ORNL delivers sustained and long-term contributions to the development of fusion as an energy source 27
28 Thank you
29 BACK-UP
30 30 Kathy McCarthy Unique ORNL facilities and capabilities support fusion energy development Spallation Neutron Source Exascale Computing Advanced Manufacturing Materials High Flux Isotope Reactor Artificial Intelligence 30
31 31 Kathy McCarthy Fusion power has been demonstrated, mainly in tokamaks New fusion record!
JET produced 59 megajoules of energy over 5 seconds in February 2022 National Ignition Facility (NIF)
NIF yielded 1.1 megajoules in 2021, a 25-fold increase in energy yield since the prior record in 2018 31
32 32 Kathy McCarthy High Temperature
& High Stress Atomic Displacement Chemical Environment Transmutations Helium-assisted cavity swelling High-temperature helium embrittlement Irradiation/transmutation-assisted corrosion Irradiation/transmutation-assisted stress-corrosion cracking Irradiation-assisted stress-corrosion cracking Hydrogen embrittlement Stress-corrosion cracking Irradiation-assisted corrosion Irradiation-creep, fatigue, embrittlement Transmutation-assisted corrosion Allen et al., 2010 Chernov et al., 2003 Braski et al., 1979 Kondo et al., 2016 Cottant et al., 2008 Fusion environments are highly challenging for materials Diagram Credit:
Collins et all 2022 32
33 33 Kathy McCarthy Example of an INFUSE Project with ORNL Project: Divertor component material testing Need: Testing of materials under relevant heat flux conditions, a necessary step for developing a robust and reliable power exhaust system for SPARC compact fusion system Results: Informed selection of SPARC plasma facing material 33
34 34 Kathy McCarthy Example of an INFUSE Project with ORNL Project: Design of a pellet injector for the ST40 compact spherical tokamak Need: Design and modelling of a pellet system for fueling ST plasmas to demonstrate high density operation and to eventually be used in future devices to inject DT pellets Results: 3D CAD model of the pellet injection system and component definition for the injection line, gas handling, and a pellet mass and speed diagnostic 34
35 35 Kathy McCarthy Example of an INFUSE Project with ORNL Project: Measurement of magnetic field using doppler-free saturation spectroscopy Need: Measurement of internal magnetic field profile is important to verify the presence of the field reverse configuration and to estimate/simulate the orbit of confined fast ions Results: in progress (initiated in 2020) 35
36 36 Kathy McCarthy Example of an INFUSE Project with ORNL Project: Magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulation of General Fusion devices Need: Large scale calculations of kinetic electron orbits in fusion plasmas.
These tools will enable a powerful approach to efficient modelling of General Fusion's Magnetized Target Fusion (MTF) devices Results: in progress (initiated in 2022) 36