the ARIES Team

The ARIES-AT power core was evolved with the overall objective of achieving high performance while maintaining attractive safety features, credible maintenance and fabrication processes, and reasonable design margins as an indication of reliability. The blanket and divertor designs are based on Pb-17Li as coolant and breeder, and low-activation SiCf/SiC as structural material. Flowing Pb-17Li in series through the divertor and blanket is appealing since it simplifies the coolant routing and minimize the number of cooling systems. However, Pb-17Li provides marginal heat transfer performance in particular in the presence of MHD effects and the divertor design had to be adapted to accommodate the peak design heat flux of 5 MW/m2. The blanket flow scheme enables operating Pb-17Li at a high outlet temperature (about 1100°C) for high power cycle efficiency while maintaining SiCf/SiC at a substantially lower temperature consistent with allowable limits. Waste minimization and additional cost savings are achieved by radially subdividing the blanket into two zones: a replaceable first zone and a life of plant second zone. Maintenance methods have been investigated which allow for end-of-life replacement of individual components. This paper summarizes the results of the design study of the ARIES-AT power core focusing on the blanket and divertor and including a discussion of the key parameters influencing the design, such as the SiCf/SiC properties and the MHD effects, and a description of the design configuration, analysis results and reference operating parameters