Conceptual Design of a Plasma Exhaust and Fuel Recovery System for an Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) Power Reactor

A conceptual design has been developed for the recovery of un-expended fuel, ash, and associated post-detonation products from a ~ 2 GW IFE power reactor. The conceptual design incorporates systems for the safe, efficient collection, processing, and purification of IFE plasma exhaust fuel components. The system has been designed and sized such that tritium bred within blankets can also be collected, processed, and introduced into the fuel cycle. The system is nominally sized to process ~2 kg of tritium per day and is designed to link directly to the target chamber mechanical pumping system. The plasma exhaust can be directly processed from the exhaust of the vacuum pumping system or can be processed in batch mode from buffer vessels in the receiving and analysis system (RAS). Systems for the accurate measurement of material in-process (MIP) have been included. Design emphasis is on safety, reliability, redundancy, and efficiency in order to maximize availability. The primary goal of the fuel recovery system (FRS) design is to economically recycle components of IFE fuel back to the target manufacturers in a fashion by which fuel components are rapidly made available for re-use thus lowering the total active inventory. The FRS design is presented as a facility sub-system in the context of supporting the safe and efficient operation of the IFE target chamber.