Key paramaters in the design of HiPER reaction chamber

The future chamber reactor of HiPER will have to withstand short energy pulses (3 μs long) of up to 5 MJ of charged particles and X-rays with different repetition rates. Nowadays, tungsten has been selected as first wall material for a 5m radius reaction chamber. From the thermo-mechanical point of view, experiments have demonstrated that tungsten can withstand heat flux parameters up to 28 MJm-2 s -1/2 without roughening and 40 MJm-2 s -1/2 without undergoing melting. From the atomic point of view, He retention and bubble formation represents the biggest threat to its survivability, being doses of ~10 17 He/cm2 the upper limit for safe operation. Comparison of these limiting values with those proposed for a 48 MJ shock ignition target in HiPER reveals that, under a reasonable plan of 1000 fusion shots during the chamber lifetime, tungsten should guarantee a proper performance of the first wall