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，将在未来10年开始建设，在(重新)引入聚变堆芯之前，将需要产生(培育)、提取、分离并再生为新燃料(颗粒或气体)的氚燃料。随着STEP的目标是到2040年产生净功率，S对氚燃料循环只有定性或近似定量的了解不再足够，需要进行更详细的检查和量化。在这个项目中，将使用计算机模拟(分子动力学)来研究氚--用于为聚变反应堆提供燃料的氢同位素之一--如何在液态锂环境中扩散和行为。特别关注的不仅是氚如何扩散，还包括它是如何被困在液体和钢结构支撑物之间的界面上的。这种类型的研究将有助于理解如何从液态锂燃料系统中回收氚，从而使自我维持的聚变反应继续进行。

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.