AbstractThe critical technical issues, evaluation and comparison of two inertial fusion enery (IFE) reactor design concepts developed in the Prometheus studies are presented. The objectives of this study were (1) to identify and characterize the critical issues and the R&D required to resolve them, and (2) to establish a sound basis for future IFE technical and programmatic decisions by evaluating and comparing the different design concepts. Each critical issue contains several key physics and engineering issues associated with the major reactor components and impacts key aspects of feasibility, safety, and economic potential of IFE reactors. Genetic critical issues center around: (1) demonstration of moderate gain at low driver energy, (2) feasibility of direct drive targets, (3) feasibility of indirect drive targets for heavy ions, (4) feasibility of indirect drive target for laers, (5) cost reduction strategies for heavy ion drivers, (6) domonstration og higher overall laser driver efficiency, (7) tritium self-sufficiency in IFE reactors, (8) cavity clearing at IFE pulse repetition rates, (9) performance, reliability and lifetime of final laser optics, (10) viability of liquid metal film for first wall protection, (11) fabricability, reliability and lifetime of SiC composite structures, (12) validation of radiation shielding requirements, design tools, and nuclear data, (13) reliability and lifetime of laser and heavy ion drivers, (14) demonstration of large-scale non-linear optical laser driver architecture, (15) demonstration of cost effective KrF amplifiers, and (16) demonstration of low cost, high volume target production techniques. Quantitative evaluation and comparison of the two design options have been made with special focus on physics feasibility, engineering feasibility, economics, safety and environment, and research and development (R&D) requirements. Two key conclusions are made based on the overall evaluation analysis: (1) The heavy-ion driven reactors appear to have an overall advantage over laser-driven reactors; and (2) However, the differences in scores are not large and future results of R&D could change the overall ranking of the two IFE concepts.
本摘要介绍了在Prometheus研究中提出的两种惯性聚变能（IFE）反应堆设计概念的关键问题及评估结果。研究目标是：（1）识别并描述关键问题及所需研发工作；（2）通过比较不同设计概念，为未来IFE技术和项目决策提供依据。每个关键问题都涉及与主要反应堆部件相关的若干物理和工程问题，并影响可行性、安全性和经济性等关键方面。关键问题集中在：（1）低驱动能量下中等增益的演示；（2）直接驱动靶的可行性；（3）重离子间接驱动靶的可行性；（4）激光间接驱动靶的可行性；（5）重离子驱动器的成本降低策略；（6）激光驱动器整体效率的提高；（7）IFE反应堆中氚的自持；（8）在IFE脉冲重复率下的腔体清除；（9）最终光学元件的性能、可靠性和寿命；（10）液态金属第一壁保护的可行性；（11）SiC复合材料结构的可制造性、可靠性和寿命；（12）辐射屏蔽要求、设计工具和核数据的验证；（13）激光和重离子驱动器的可靠性和寿命；（14）大规模非线性光学激光驱动器架构的演示；（15）经济高效的KrF放大器演示；（16）低成本、高产量靶制造技术的演示。已对两种设计概念进行了定量比较和评估，重点关注物理可行性、工程可行性、经济性、安全性和研发需求。基于总体评估分析得出两个主要结论：（1）重离子驱动反应堆相对于激光驱动反应堆具有总体优势；（2）然而，两者得分差异不大，未来研发结果可能改变这两种IFE概念的总体排名。