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MFE & IFE Studies UW Neutronics Center of Excellence Inertial Electrostatic Confinement Shock Tube
Advanced D-3He Fuel Cycle
The interest in fusion safety has stimulated worldwide research for other fuel cycles such as D-D, D-3He, p-11B, and 3He-3He. These fuel cycles, except 3He-3He, are not completely aneutronic due to their side reactions. Neutron wall loadings, however, can be kept low (by orders of magnitude) compared to D-T fuelled plants with the same output power, eliminating the need for a breeding blanket and the replacement of the first wall and shielding components during the entire plant lifetime. The availability of 3He and the attainment of the higher plasma parameters required for burning are challenging problems for the D-3He fuel cycle. High beta and/or high field innovative confinement concepts, such as the field-reversed configuration and, to a lesser extent, the tokamaks are suitable devices for advanced fuel cycles. In the early 1990s, the ARIES-III D-3He tokamak was developed within the framework of the ARIES study. The UW D-3He Apollo series, along with ARIES-III, demonstrated attractive safety characteristics, including low activity and decay heat levels, low-level waste, and low releasable radioactive inventory from credible accidents. Another advantage for the D-3He system is the possibility of obtaining electrical power by direct energy conversion of the protons and radiation produced by fusion reactions. These advantages suggest that studies for the development of advanced fuel cycles should be carried out in parallel with the present mainstream D-T fusion power development, as the low neutron production helps overcome some of the engineering, materials, and safety hurdles to fusion development.
Related Links
- Gallery of He-3 Media Coverage
- D-3He Fusion Overview poster
- "Resources from Space" class notes
- A Field Trip to the Moon
- Safe, Clean Abundant Energy from the Moon [13 min Quicktime video] [170 MB .avi file]
FTI Publications
Using Lunar Helium-3 to Generate Nuclear Power Without the Production of Nuclear Waste;
G.L. Kulcinski,
May 2001 [presented at the 20th International Space Development Conference, Albuquerque NM, May 24-28, 2001]. (20 pages, 1.2 MB)