A neutronic feasibility study on Be-free He-cooled solid breeder blanket

A feasibility study has been performed to devise a He-cooled solid breeder (HCSB) blanket without a Be neutron multiplier. To achieve the self-sufficient tritium breeding ratio (TBR), natural lead is introduced as an alternative neutron multiplier and a graphite neutron reflector is employed to minimize the neutron leakage. For the Be-free blanket concept, various neutronic analyses have been done with a Monte Carlo code to characterize its neutronic performance. It is found that a self-sufficient TBR can be achieved in a He-cooled solid breeder (Li4SiO4) blanket with a relatively thin lead neutron multiplier.