Thermo-mechanical behaviour of a tungsten first wall in HiPER laser fusion scenarios

TL;DR

This study evaluates tungsten's thermo-mechanical response as a first wall in HiPER laser fusion scenarios, analyzing deformation, fatigue, and crack propagation under realistic irradiation conditions.

Contribution

It provides a quantitative analysis of tungsten's behavior under different HiPER fusion scenarios, including deformation, fatigue, and crack growth predictions.

Findings

Tungsten plastically deforms up to a few microns beneath the surface.

Continuous operation causes fatigue failure with crack growth.

Minimum tungsten thickness needed for effective protection is identified.

Abstract

The behaviour of a tungsten first wall is studied under the irradiation conditions predicted for the different operation scenarios of the European Laser fusion project HiPER, which is based on direct drive targets and an evacuated dry wall chamber. The scenarios correspond to different stages in the development of a nuclear fusion reactor, from proof of principle (bunch mode facility) to economic feasibility (pre-commercial power plant). This work constitutes a quantitative study to evaluate the first wall performance under realistic irradiation conditions in the different scenarios. We calculated the radiation fluxes assuming the geometrical configurations reported so far for HiPER. Then, we calculated the irradiation-induced first wall temperature evolution and the thermo-mechanical response of the material. The results indicate that the first wall will plastically deform up to a few microns underneath the surface. Continuous operation in power plant leads to fatigue failure with crack generation and growth. Finally, the crack propagation and the minimum W thickness required to fulfil the first wall protection role is studied. The response of tungsten as first wall material as well as its main limitations will be discussed for the HiPER scenarios.