Preliminary neutronic assessment of a helium-cooled Li8PbO6 breeding blanket design for DEMO

A preliminary neutronic assessment of the performances of a helium-cooled Li8PbO6 breeding blanket for the conceptual design of a DEMO fusion reactor is given. The study mainly focuses on TBR, power density responses and shielding factor optimization to estimate the feasibility of the design under the prescribed radiation deposition limits at TF-coils superconducting magnets. Computational analyses are based on three-dimensional 30° sector using the Monte Carlo code MCNPX 2.6. The scoping interest of helium-cooled Li8PbO6 blanket designs is based on a large potential minimization of the amount of Be required and the strong relaxation of 6Li enrichment requirements for this solution when compared to other solid breeder blanket options.