MONTE CARLO STUDY OF ASYMMETRIC EFFECTS IN A MAGNETICALLY-PROTECTED-FIRST-WALL LASER DRIVEN REACTOR.

Time-integrated neutronics and photonics studies for a lithium oxide blanket developed for a laser driven fusion reactor are presented. Two-dimensional Monte Carlo calculations have been used to assess the asymmetry effects resulting from the geometry of the reactor cavity as a right circular cylinder with two hemispherical caps. Such a shape is characteristic for laser fusion cavities designed to employ magnetic protection of the cavity liner or first wall. An average value for the tritium yield per source neutron is obtained as 1. 155, and an average total nuclear heating of 14. 491 MeV/D-T neutron. These differ from the values of 1. 250 and 15. 070 respectively, obtained by previous one-dimensional approximation models by both Monte Carlo and Discrete Ordinates. The tritium production, nuclear heating, atomic displacements and gas production rates are found to vary substantially in different regions of the blanket. The non-uniformity of these parameters in different regions of the blanket is expected to seriously affect the shielding, mechanical and heat transfer designs and will lead to varied components lifetimes.