Parametric study of the influence of First Wall cooling water on the Water Cooled Lithium Lead Breeding Blanket nuclear response

Abstract

In the framework of EUROfusion Work Package International Cooperation R&D activities, a close collaboration has been started among University of Palermo, ENEA Brasimone and ENEA Frascati for the development of the Water Cooled Lithium Lead (WCLL) Breeding Blanket (BB) concept. In this context, a research campaign has been carried out at the University of Palermo in order to investigate the influence of First Wall (FW) cooling water configuration on the nuclear response of the WCLL BB under irradiation in EU-DEMO, in order to gain useful indications for the WCLL BB pre-conceptual designs. To this end, three-dimensional nuclear analyses have been performed by MCNP5 v. 1.6 Monte Carlo code. A semi-heterogeneous MCNP model of the WCLL BB “single module segment” concept has been used and its nuclear response has been assessed for different FW configurations, centring the attention, mainly, on global quantities as nuclear power deposition and tritium breeding ratio. The results obtained provided some information on the nuclear features of the WCLL BB concept, useful for its design optimisation. The outcomes of this parametric study are herein presented and critically discussed.