Inertial fusion activities in Spain

Abstract

A method is proposed to exploit the aneutronic p-11B fusion reaction by means of igniting a heat detonation wave that expands across the fuel from a small heated region. The tritium seeding effect of DT, 6LiD, 7LiD, p11B, 10BD, 3HeD fuels has been analysed, showing that the impact of initial tritium is not so important in aneutronic reactions. The 2D ARWEN code includes a flux limited multigroup radiation diffusion solver with grey acceleration, which is being used to design and analyse X-ray driven experiments on Richtmyer–Meshkov instability, and on jet production with conical hollow charges. Shock wave propagation experiments, using Al foils, performed at LULI have been analysed using simulations with the SARA-1D multigroup radiation code. A small level of preheating caused by the absorption of X-rays with energies close to the K-edge of aluminium has been shown. Integrated simulations of NIF-type hohlraum targets based on latest revision of MULTI2D are presented. A new model for the Rayleigh–Taylor instability of steady ablation fronts which overcomes past inconsistencies and reproduces a wide set of reported results has been developed. DENIM's LTE and non-LTE atomic physics codes, JIMENA, ANALOP, CARMEN, and M3R, have been compared with others codes and with recent available experiments. Results reviewed here have been presented in the Workshop on Kinetic NLTE codes held in August 1996, and the WORKOP-IV for LTE plasmas held in Madrid May 1997. New capabilities in the inventory ACAB code are: (i) pulsed irradiation, applied to NIF scenario; (ii) capability to estimate the effect of the cross-sections uncertainties in the accuracy of activation calculations, applied to study the long-term activation of natural elements, with neutron spectrum from HYLIFE-II vessel; (iii) sequential charged-particle reactions, analysing the effect in the activation of Flibe, under a HYLIFE-II scenario for maintenance and decommissioning purposes. Analysis of deep penetrations in the KOYO reactor, affecting damage of final optics, has been performed. Irradiation damage of high-Z materials, using Molecular Dynamics and Defect Kinetic MonteCarlo Diffusion models, has been studied in a microscopic base. New reviewed results are being produced for primary damage parameters of SiC, as low activation material, and first calculations on basic metals to be extended to binary/ternary alloys (steels).