Breeder Blanket Design in Fusion Reactors: Innovations and Challenges

IDOM has been contracted by UKAEA to develop a novel breeder blanket design concept to be used in the Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) Fusion Power Plant. The STEP programme aims at accelerating the delivery of sustainable fusion energy thus, IDOM’s task was to develop an innovative conceptual design for a breeder blanket that is overcoming the various challenges facing the existing breeder blankets’ designs.

In this webinar, the speakers will give an overview of IDOM capabilities and experience in Fusion Energy, introduce the breeder blanket technology and working principals. Then, the speakers will talk more specifically about their recent experience and involvement in the STEP project explaining the methodology adopted to develop the breeder blanket conceptual design proposal for the STEP programme.

This methodology involved conducting a series of analyses on different breeder blanket designs covering the material properties and their compatibility, the design configuration, the neutronics analysis, the thermal-hydraulics analysis, a preliminary structural analysis, safety aspects, and waste segregation and disposal. These analyses were conducted to identify the design features and constraints of each of those designs and to understand the challenges facing them to be able to come up with an innovative conceptual design proposal that combines the advantages and overcomes the challenges.

Speakers

 

Francisco Calvo  -Project Manager in IDOM's Nuclear Department, mainly working on projects related to advanced mechanical design and computational analysis.

Sergio Sádaba -  Technical Specialist in IDOM's  Nuclear Department responsible for design-by-analysis in thermo-mechanical components.

Jorge Fradera - Nuclear Engineer at IDOM. He is a senior nuclear analyst, tritium expert, CFD specialist, scientific applications programmer and fusion technology developer.

Registration

Please register via the Institute of Physics.

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