net-zero - Tracking tritium to enable efficient fusion fuel cycles

英国政府已经立法，到2050年实现“净零”温室气体排放，并承诺通过建立STEP计划，到2040年建立一个原型紧凑型发电厂，“加倍努力成为第一个将聚变能源技术商业化的国家”——这对英国来说是一个非常令人兴奋的冒险！建造STEP是一项非常重大的技术挑战，但英国拥有出色的血统和专业知识。此外，英国还参与了欧洲原子能研究和培训计划，因此仍然是更大的ITER（法国南部的国际聚变项目）和欧洲聚变示范电厂计划的全面参与者，在ITER开始第一次聚变实验20年后，目标是聚变电力。虽然STEP和DEMO是由净零目标驱动的综合电厂设计方案，但仍必须同时克服相当大的技术不确定性。这个概念验证提案由布里斯托尔大学（UoB）和UKAEA（英国领导核聚变研究的政府研究机构）合作，将寻求解决核聚变电站的一个关键技术“障碍”：监测氚的挑战，氚是核聚变能源的放射性燃料成分。氚是氢的弱β -发射重同位素，β辐射能量平均为5.7keV，这意味着氚衍生的β粒子在探测器材料中的停止范围非常有限，大约在微米量级。有必要监测核聚变电站许多不同部分的氚丰度，从核心（温度极高）到增殖毯（产生氚的地方），再到后端分离和储存工厂（使用低温（非常冷）的温度来辅助过程）。因此，任何探测器都需要能够承受极端温度，并且仍然能够以可靠的方式工作。该项目将生产第一个紧凑的固体氚探测器，其独特的装置结构由钻石制成，这将使其能够在极冷和极热的条件下工作，并且可以从极低的氚量到非常高的氚量。开发这种设备将需要开发材料，采用独特的层对层生长方法，还需要开发电子设备，可以快速计数撞击探测器的β粒子。因此，这个令人兴奋的项目将涉及建模，材料生长，电子设计，设备测试和校准。所有这些都是为了创造一种新型探测器，这将是帮助核聚变发电厂运行的关键。

The UK government has legislated to deliver 'net-zero' greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and committed 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 power plant by 2040 - a hugely exciting venture for the UK! Building STEP is a very substantial technological challenge but one for which the UK has excellent pedigree and expertise. Additionally, the UK has also associated to the Euratom Research and Training programme, so remains a full participant in the much larger ITER (international fusion project in southern France) and the EUROfusion DEMO powerplant programme, targeting fusion electricity 20 years after ITER begins its first fusion experiments. Whilst STEP and DEMO are comprehensive power plant design programmes driven by net-zero targets, considerable technical uncertainties must still be overcome in parallel. This proof-of-concept proposal, led by the University of Bristol (UoB), partnered with the UKAEA (the government research organisation which leads fusion research in the UK), will seek to address a key technology 'blocker' for fusion power stations: the challenge of monitoring tritium, the radioactive fuel component for fusion energy. Tritium is a weak beta-emitting heavy isotope of hydrogen, with beta radiation energies averaging 5.7keV, meaning that the stopping range of tritium-derived beta particles in detector materials is extremely limited, on the order of microns. There is a need to monitor the abundance of tritium in numerous different parts of a fusion power station from the core, where it is extremely hot) to the breeder blanket (where tritium is created) to the back end separation and storage plants, where cryogenic (very cold) temperatures are used to aid the processes. Hence any detector needs to be able to withstand extremes of temperature and still be able to work in a reliable way.This project will produce the first compact, solid-state detector for tritium, with a unique device structure made from diamond that will make it able to operate in both extreme cold and heat and from very low amounts of tritium to very high amounts of tritium. Developing this device will require development of the materials, with a unique layer on layer growth methodology and also the development of electronics, which can rapidly count the beta particles impinging on the detector. Accordingly this exciting project will involve modelling, material growth, electronic design, device testing and calibration. All towards creating a new type of detector that will be critical to helping a fusion powerplant run.