IAEA Technical Meeting on (alpha,n) nuclear data evaluation and data needs

(α,n) cross section needs for fusion

9 Nov 2021, 17:15

15m

Virtual

Session 2

Speaker

Mark Gilbert (CCFE)

Description

Monitoring and measurement of alpha particles produced in fusion deuterium-plasmas is an important requirement for the successful development of fusion power plants. The loss of fast (3.5 MeV) $\alpha$-particles from the plasma is problematic; if too many escape without transferring their energy back into the plasma, then a self-sustaining system might not be achievable. During the development and testing of plasma operational scenarios, it is vital to have accurate measurement of the flux of fast-$\alpha$ losses.

Real-time measurement approaches based on liquid-scintillation are being developed, but these have uncertain tolerance to the harsh radiation fields in fusion reactors and, besides, also need characterisation. Robust measurements based on activation-foils are an obvious alternative and complementary technique. However, such an approach requires identification of suitable diagnostic foils with well-known, low uncertainty cross sections at 3.5 MeV. Most of the data is deficient (absent) at this energy, highlighting an urgent need to perform new measurements for relevant candidate materials.

Presentation materials

mgilbert_fusion_needs.pdf