Tritium handling in the Mirror Fusion Hybrid Reactor

A reference design study for a Mirror Fusion Hybrid Reactor has been completed which examines the tritium handling problems. Breeding pins composed of aluminum alloys contain lithium hydride with a four-year residence time for tritium production. The slip-stream helium tritium capture system is designed to handle a 0.1 percent pin failure and will reduce environmental losses to below 3 Ci/day. The neutral beam injectors and direct converters utilize small, thin electrode tubes at 700/sup 0/C for accelerating the deuterium or tritium, and they will by triton implantation permeate about 3 x 10/sup 5/ Ci/day into the internal helium coolant flow. A capture system will reduce these losses to 6 Ci/day, combined. The reactor hall is designed with a low humidity, air atmosphere which is continuously processed in order to handle leakage and permeability losses from the nuclear island at 180 Ci/day while still maintaining levels of tritium below MPC. The precessor is also able to handle severe accidental releases of tritium at the 26 kilogram level and permit worker re-entry (with ventilated suits) in a matter of about one week. These approaches to fusion power plant are found to be technically feasible today and economically attractive