UKAEA / EPSRC Fusion Grant 2022/27

UKAEA / EPSRC 融合补助金 2022/27

• 批准号: EP/W006839/1
• 负责人: Ian Chapman
• 金额: $ 9862.31万
• 依托单位: CCFE/UKAEA
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FW006839%2F1
• 关键词: UKAEA; EPSRC; Fusion; Grant; 2022

As energy demand increases and the impacts of climate change worsen, fusion offers the prospect of abundant, agile, low-carbon, baseload supply. During the next five years, fusion reaches a defining period. ITER - a ~20BnEuro megaproject that will demonstrate fusion is possible on a commercial scale - begins operation, whilst JET - for forty years the world's premier fusion facility - ceases operation. In parallel, governments and private investors are funding fusion powerplant design driven by the imperative to address climate change. The UK government stated that the UK has a 'moral responsibility to lead on climate change', having legislated to deliver 'net-zero' greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, committing to "doubling down on our ambition to be the first country to commercialise fusion energy technology" by establishing the STEP programme to build a prototype compact powerplant by 2040. The UK has also associated to the Euratom Research programme, remaining a full participant in ITER and the EUROfusion DEMO programme, the world's largest powerplant design effort, targeting fusion electricity 20 years after ITER begins high power operations. Whilst STEP and DEMO are comprehensive powerplant design programmes, there are considerable technical uncertainties without known solutions that must be overcome in parallel. This proposal will address these science and technology challenges, innovating to make designs easier and cheaper, reducing uncertainties in design, working with world-leaders from other sectors to exploit digital design methods that accommodate inherent uncertainty, and developing powerful new models based on fundamental theoretical developments. This differs from normal development paths - where the underlying science is resolved before the design proceeds or where small-scale demonstrators are possible - and thus presents very deep challenges: How can robust choices be made in the face of considerable uncertainty? How do we bridge the gaps between feasible experiments and the environment inside a powerplant, when empirical demonstrations are too slow and costly? How do we proceed without experimentally substantiated solutions in each discipline of an integrated design? This programme will confront these questions with multi-disciplinary research and innovation that builds on the UK's unique breadth of capability in fusion, targeting fundamental advances in the most demanding technical challenges: a) The confinement of a fuel at 150 million degrees over long timescales - we will lead the final high-power experiments in JET for ITER; b) The exhaust of excess heat at levels well above those experienced by a re-entrant spacecraft - we will test a novel exhaust solution on MAST Upgrade and develop new high-performance models to bridge the gap from MAST-U to a powerplant; c) The resilience of materials which will surround the most intense neutron source on Earth - our Materials Research Facility will enable examination of irradiated materials properties to test and develop world-leading models of materials behaviour; d) The ability to design, manufacture and qualify fusion components without a full demonstrator plant - with industry, this programme will target new advanced manufacturing techniques and testing capabilities in our new Fusion Technology Facilities; e) A solution to breed, extract, use and recycle the necessary inventory of tritium with minimal loss and accurate accounting - the new H3AT facility will enable development and demonstration of tritium systems at a representative scale; f) The requisite availability to produce a viable cost of electricity - we will develop novel maintenance solutions for powerplants in our RACE facility; and, g) The ability to design a power plant fully 'in silico' in lieu of empirical demonstration - a growing advanced computing programme will allow us to exploit the benefits of exascale computing to bridge the gap from today's physics to tomorrows powerplants

随着能源需求的增加和气候变化影响的恶化，聚变提供了充足、灵活、低碳、基本负荷供应的前景。在接下来的五年里，核聚变达到了一个决定性的时期。ITER-一个将证明聚变在商业规模上是可能的-20BnEuro巨型项目-开始运营，而JET-40年来世界首屈一指的聚变设施-停止运营。与此同时，各国政府和私人投资者正在为应对气候变化的当务之急推动的聚变发电厂设计提供资金。英国政府表示，英国在应对气候变化方面负有“道义责任”，已立法要求在2050年前实现温室气体净零排放，并承诺通过建立STEP计划，在2040年前建造一座原型紧凑型发电厂，从而“加倍实现我们成为聚变能源技术商业化的第一个国家的雄心”。英国还参与了欧洲原子能研究方案，仍然是ITER和EUROFusion演示方案的正式参与者，这是世界上最大的发电厂设计工作，目标是在热核实验堆开始高功率运行20年后的聚变电。虽然STEP和DEMO是全面的发电厂设计方案，但在没有已知解决方案的情况下，有相当大的技术不确定性，必须并行克服。这项提议将应对这些科学和技术挑战，创新使设计更容易、更便宜，减少设计中的不确定性，与来自其他部门的世界领先企业合作，利用适应内在不确定性的数字设计方法，并基于基础理论发展开发强大的新模型。这不同于正常的发展道路--在设计进行之前解决潜在的科学问题，或者可能进行小规模示范--因此带来了非常深刻的挑战：面对相当大的不确定性，如何做出稳健的选择？当经验演示太慢、太昂贵时，我们如何弥合可行实验和发电厂内部环境之间的差距？在集成设计的每个领域中，如果没有经过实验证实的解决方案，我们将如何继续？这一计划将通过多学科研究和创新来应对这些问题，这些研究和创新建立在英国独特的聚变能力基础上，目标是在最苛刻的技术挑战中取得根本性进展：a)在长时间尺度上将燃料限制在1.5亿摄氏度--我们将领导ITER喷气式飞机的最终高功率实验；b)在远高于再入航天器经历的水平下排放过剩热量--我们将在桅杆升级上测试一种新的排气解决方案，并开发新的高性能型号，以弥补从MAST-U到动力装置的差距；C)围绕地球上最强的中子源的材料的弹性-我们的材料研究设施将能够检查辐照材料的性质，以测试和开发世界领先的材料行为模型；d)在没有完整的示范工厂的情况下设计、制造和鉴定聚变部件的能力-与工业合作，该方案将针对我们新的聚变技术设施的新的先进制造技术和测试能力；e)以最小的损失和准确的计算来繁殖、提取、使用和回收必要的氚库存的解决方案--新的H3AT设施将能够在具有代表性的规模上开发和展示氚系统；F)生产可行的电力成本所需的可用性--我们将为我们的RACE设施中的发电厂开发新的维护解决方案；以及，g)能够完全以计算机技术设计发电厂，而不是经验演示--一个不断发展的先进计算计划将使我们能够利用艾级计算的好处，以弥合从今天的物理到未来的发电厂的差距

项目成果

Remote infrared view of JET divertor compatible with D-T operations

与 D-T 操作兼容的 JET 偏滤器远程红外视图

• DOI: 10.1088/1361-6587/ace6d3
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion
• 影响因子: 2.2
• 作者: Balboa I

Validation of the strike point position estimation with the local expansion method for MAST upgrade on the DIII-D tokamak

• DOI: 10.1016/j.fusengdes.2022.113086
• 发表时间: 2022-04
• 期刊: Fusion Engineering and Design
• 影响因子: 1.7
• 作者: H. Anand;D. Eldon;M. Kochan;G. McArdle;L. Pangione;H.Q. Wang

Remote wide angle view broad wavelength viewing system compatible with D-T operations in JET

远程广角视图宽波长观察系统与 JET 中的 D-T 操作兼容

• DOI: 10.1088/1361-6587/accecc
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion
• 影响因子: 2.2
• 作者: Balboa I

CHIMERA Fusion Technology Facility: Testing and Virtual Qualification

CHIMERA 融合技术设施：测试和虚拟资格认证

• DOI: 10.1080/15361055.2022.2147766
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Fusion Science and Technology
• 影响因子: 0.9
• 作者: Barrett T

Predicting short-range order evolution in WTaCrVHf refractory high-entropy alloys

• DOI: 10.1016/j.scriptamat.2023.115506
• 发表时间: 2023
• 期刊: Scripta Materialia
• 影响因子: 6
• 作者: Andrew M. Alvarado;Chanho Lee;J. Wróbel;D. Sobieraj;D. Nguyen-Manh;J. Poplawsky;S. Fensin;E. Martinez;O. El-Atwani