hapl project review pleasanton, california november 13-14, 2001 (ifsa2001 paper #1113)
DESCRIPTION
Reducing the Costs of Targets for Inertial Fusion Energy G.E. Besenbruch, D.T. Goodin, J.P. Dahlburg, K.R. Schultz, A. Nobile 1 , E.M. Campbell General Atomics, P.O. Box 85608, San Diego, California 92186-5608 1 Los Alamos National Laboratory, Albuquerque, New Mexico. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Reducing the Costs of Targets for Inertial Fusion Energy
G.E. Besenbruch, D.T. Goodin, J.P. Dahlburg, K.R. Schultz,A. Nobile1, E.M. Campbell
General Atomics, P.O. Box 85608, San Diego, California 92186-56081Los Alamos National Laboratory, Albuquerque, New Mexico
HAPL Project ReviewPleasanton, California
November 13-14, 2001(IFSA2001 Paper #1113)
Concept for “HILIFE-II” IFE 1000 MW(e) Power
Plant (Chamber radius = 3 meters)
Feasibility of economical target fabrication is a critical issue for IFE power plants
A number of power plant conceptual designs are available pulsed power systems that operate at ~6-10 Hz
Must supply about 500,000 targets per day with:- precision geometry, and cryogenic, layered DT fill
.... Cost reductions from about $2500 to about $0.25 per target are needed for economical electricity production
Preliminary target designs have been identified
LLNL Close-Coupled HI Target
NRL RadiationPreheat Target
Some Expected Direct Drive Specifications
Capsule Diameter 4 mmShell Wall Thickness 200 mFoam shell density 20-120 mg/ccOut of Round <1% of radiusNon-Concentricity <1% of wall thicknessShell Surface Finish 500 Angstroms RMSIce Surface Finish <2 m RMS
The heavy-ion driven target has a number of different regions
Regions of low-density foams
and unique materials
Nuclear Fusion 39(11)D. A. Callahan-Miller
and M. Tabak
Other Potential Direct Drive
Target Concepts
Empty Outer Foam
Thick Outer
Capsule
0.25 g/cc foam
Seal, DT
Dense ablator
Seal, DT
Cost reductions of four orders of magnitude are challenging - but feasible
GDP
PAMSGas cooled reactor fuel particle with 4
coating layersFuel particle scaleup experience is
encouraging for IFE
Inertial fusion energy target
~3500 µm
~1000 µm
Current cost~$2500/target
.... GA has previously used fluidized bed technology to reduce costs of coated nuclear fuel particles and produced over 1011 particles!
Technological improvements lead to dramatic changes in products (i.e. Moore's Law)
Technology Review, C. Mann, May/June 2000
.... The number of transistors on a chip increased 4 orders of magnitude from 1971 to 1999
Moore's law analogies can be applied directly to cost reductions
Year
Main memory cost per byte (pence)
The cost of computer memory decreased by 106 between 1970 and 1990. This was achieved through reductions in process costs and improvements in manufacturing technology.
Ref: http://www.cse.dmu.ac.uk/~cfi/Networks/WorkStations/Workstations5.htm
One can estimate IFE target production costs beginning with current experimental-target costs
One can find the approximate cost per current-day target byTotal Project Cost/ Number of Delivered Targets = ~$2500 (capsule only)
However, there are tremendous differences in the program requirements - and in the consequent approaches to manufacture
Item Experimental Program IFE ProgramProduction Rate Relatively Small (~2500 targets per year by GA) 500,000 per dayFOAK Costs Very high - targets always vary Essentially noneCharacterization Extensive - individual details needed Statistical samplingProduct Yield Low - product varies, small amounts needed HighBatch sizes Small - small amounts needed (<100) Large
Eliminating FOAK Costs
Reducing Characterization
Increasing Yield
Increasing Batch Sizes
… IFE target cost reductions will be achieved
by
Costs will be dramatically lower when targets are identical - eliminates First of a Kind (FOAK) costs
Currently delivered targets are nearly always unique - with most of the labor going to development and trial runs
We estimate the average FOAK labor now as hundreds of hours
These costs will be minimal for IFE production
Example - Dopants and wall thicknesses vary on each batch ordered for experiments.
Today, few targets are made more than once!
.... For IFE, a single type of target is repeatedly produced, and FOAK development costs are essentially eliminated
02468101214161820
Wal
l thi
ckne
ss, µ
m1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 1011121314151617
target batch #
X-GDPM-X-GDPM-GDP GDPM=Metal X=Halogen
Large savings can be achieved in characterization and QC
Currently, shot-quality targets are highly characterized before delivery “pedigree” with detailed data on individual targets.
Current manual characterization - ~8 hours per shell
Future automated system for dimensional
inspection of IFE target foam shells
For the IFE Target Fabrication Facility, the cost of QC is reduced by:- reduced precision in IFE target designs- statistical sampling for process control- only periodic in-depth checks- automated characterization equipment
.... Major characterization cost reductions can be achieved
Process development focusing on routine production will result in high product yields
First-of-a-kind thin walled capsules have low yield (imploded
during solvent extraction)
After R&D and applying the science to process conditions, implosions are
almost eliminated.
FOAK batches: low yields (1-5%)
High Yields (like chemical industry
processes) of >95% but same operations cost
Target Fabrication
Process Development
Programs
9" ID nuclear fuel coater
IFE target development programs must provide the technology basis for batch size increases and high yields
aq DropletgenerationAir dry Non aqueouspolymer solutionAqueous phaseSolid shellAqAqAq Loss oforganic solventAq
Microencapsulation is inherently a high-volume production process
Scaleable ProcessesMicroencapsulation (shells)Fluidized bed coatings (shells)Interfacial polycondensation (seal coats)Sputter-coating (high-Z coatings)Casting (foams, hohlraum cases)Assembly (hohlraums, cryogenic, remote)
Example - bounce-pan holds 4-100
shells for coating
Bounce Pan
Coating
Example - two 9" diameter fluidized
bed coaters can produce 500,000 particles per day
MOVING
CRYOSTAT
LA CAVE
MOVING CRYOSTAT TRANSPORT CART
ROOM 157
UR TRITIUM
FILLING
STATION
DT HIGH
PRESSURE SYSTEM
GLOVEBOX
MOVING CRYOSTAT ELEVATOR
LOWER PYLON
UPPER PYLON
TARGET
CHAMBER
FILL/TRANSFER
STATION
Glovebox
Target filling and layering methods must be scaled to high throughputs
The first full target supply system is
at OMEGA 4 filled/layered
targets/day
36 " I.D. X 40 " Tall, 8 trays,290,000 targets
Pressure cell with traysCOLD HELIUM
FLUIDIZED BED WITH
GOLD PLATED (IR
REFLECTING) INNER WALL
INJECT IR
Fluidized BedConcept for
Capsule Layering
ASSEMBLED HOHLRAUMS ARE STAGED IN VERTICAL TUBES WITH PRECISE TEMPERATURE CONTROL
Tube Layering Concept for Hohlraums
.... Basic premise: develop processes so small crews can operate
Anticipated target injection and tracking costs are low
HYLIFE-II power plant concept showing basic injector components
SpringTarget
Target injection critical issues1) Withstand acceleration during injection2) Survive thermal environment3) Accuracy and repeatability, tracking
Must supply about 500, 000 targets per day for a 1000 MW(e) power plant1) Injection placement accuracy to ±5 mm2) Indirect/direct drive tracking and beam steering to less than ±200/20 m
Direct drive target sabot
.... Additional work will be needed to define injection costs
Major steps to reduce IFE target manufacturing costs
Current Cost ProductionCost Item Per Shell ($) Cost ($) CommentTotal Cost ~$2752 $0.083 Per "shot-quality" target
EliminateFOAK (R&D) $1200 ~0 Produce a fixed target design
ReduceCharacterization- Support R&D 225 ~0 No R&D support- Pedigree 1200 <$0.05 Process control
ManufacturingCost $0.013-Labor (yield, batch size) 125-Materials Cost 2 $0.02
The vast majority of the cost reductions come from
eliminating R&D and the QC “pedigree” for each target.
.... Additional work will be needed to define filling, layering, and injection costs
Summary and conclusionsCurrent experimental-target fabrication costs need to be reduced about four orders of magnitude for economical IFE power production
Cost reductions of 104 or more from early fabrication to mass-production are common in high-tech industries
Reductions from the current cost will be achieved by: - eliminating first-of-a-kind and development efforts inherent in today's
experimental-targets- reducing the cost of QC by implementing statistical process control and
automating inspection processes- developing equipment and processes for large batch sizes and/or continuous
production- conducting the development programs necessary to achieve high product yields
.... A significant development program is needed to provide low-cost mass-production of IFE targets