A retention and transport model for tritium in lithium and at fusion breeder interfaces

未来的聚变动力反应堆，如英国的STEP反应堆，由于开始建设在未来10年内，将需要氚燃料产生（增殖），提取，分离，并再生为新的燃料（无论是小球或气体）之前（重新）引入聚变堆芯。随着STEP的目标是到2040年产生净功率输出，仅仅对氚燃料循环有定性或近似定量的了解已经不够了;需要进行更详细的检查和量化。在该项目中，计算机建模（分子动力学）将用于研究氚-用于燃料聚变反应堆的氢同位素之一-如何在液体锂环境中扩散和行为。特别关注的不仅是氚如何扩散，而且还关注它如何被捕获在液体和钢结构支撑之间的界面上。这种类型的研究将有助于了解如何从液体锂基燃料系统中回收氚，使自我维持的聚变反应继续下去。

Future fusion power reactors such as the UK's STEP reactor, due to begin construction in the next 10 years, will require the tritium fuel to be generated (bred), extracted, separated, and regenerated into new fueling (either pellets or gas) prior to (re-)introduction into the fusion core. With the target of STEP to be generating net power output by the 2040's, it is no longer sufficient to only have qualitative or approximately quantitative understanding of the tritium fuel cycle; more detailed examinations and quantification are required. In this project, computer modelling (molecular dynamics) will be used to investigate how tritium - one of the hydrogen isotopes used to fuel fusion reactors - diffuses and behaves within a liquid lithium environment. Particular focus will be on not only how the tritium diffuses, but also on how it is trapped at the interface between the liquid and the steel structural support. Investigations of this type will help understand how tritium can be recovered from liquid lithium-based fuel systems enabling a self sustaining fusion reaction to continue.