| KEYWORD |
Area Architecture
D-T fusion fuel cycle
keywords BREEDING BLANKET, FUEL CYCLE, NUCLEAR FUSION, TRITIUM
Reference persons SAMUELE MESCHINI, RAFFAELLA TESTONI
Research Groups Essential
Description The fuel cycle of a fusion reactor with deuterium-tritium (D-T) fuel is one of the critical systems for the proper operation of the plant. The primary objectives of the fuel cycle are to produce sufficient tritium to ensure tritium self-sufficiency, extract and process it quickly, and guarantee a surplus for starting new power plants. In current designs, the reactor ability to be self-sufficient is far from assured due to the low technological maturity of key components, the lack of strategies to minimize tritium inventories, plasma operations with low tritium burn efficiency, and other factors.
Thesis activities will be agreed upon with the candidate and may focus on the analysis and design of a specific fuel cycle component, dynamic analysis of the entire system, strategies for fuel cycle improvement and tritium management, or theoretical studies to enhance tritium burn efficiency in D-T plasmas. Some activities involve collaborations with the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at MIT (MIT PSFC) and the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL).
See also meschini_2023_nucl._fusion_63_126005.pdf
Required skills Fundamentals of nuclear fusion
Notes Additional reference: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1741-4326/acf3fb/meta, https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.05238
Deadline 21/11/2025
PROPONI LA TUA CANDIDATURA