Quadling Amanda, Bowden David, Hardie Chris, Vasanthakumaran Arti
Materials Division, UK Atomic Energy Authority, Culham Science Centre, Abingdon, Oxfordshire OX14 3DB, UK.
Philos Trans A Math Phys Eng Sci. 2024 Oct 9;382(2280):20230409. doi: 10.1098/rsta.2023.0409. Epub 2024 Aug 26.
The Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP) environment will include magnetic, thermal, mechanical and environmental loads far greater than those seen in the Joint European Torus campaigns of the past decade or currently contemplated for ITER. Greater still are the neutron peak dose rates of 10 displacements per atom, per second, which in-vessel materials in STEP are anticipated to be exposed to. Reduced activation and high-fluence resilience therefore dominate the materials strategy to support the STEP Programme. The latter covers the full life cycle from downselected compositions and new microstructural developments to irradiation-informed modelling and end-of-life strategies. This article discusses how the materials downselection is oriented in plant power trade-off space, outlines the development of an advanced ferritic-martensitic structural steel, describes the 'Design by Fundamentals' mesoscale modelling approach and reports some of the waste mitigation routes intended to make STEP operations as sustainable as possible.This article is part of the theme issue 'Delivering Fusion Energy - The Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production (STEP)'.
用于能源生产的球形托卡马克（STEP）环境将包括比过去十年欧洲联合环面实验以及目前国际热核聚变实验堆（ITER）所设想的情况大得多的磁、热、机械和环境负荷。更甚者，STEP预计其内部材料将暴露于高达每秒每原子10次位移的中子峰值剂量率之下。因此，降低活化和高注量韧性主导了支持STEP计划的材料策略。后者涵盖了从选定的成分和新的微观结构发展到辐照辅助建模以及退役策略的整个生命周期。本文讨论了材料筛选在装置功率权衡空间中的导向方式，概述了一种先进铁素体 - 马氏体结构钢的开发情况，描述了“基于基础设计”的中尺度建模方法，并报告了一些旨在使STEP运行尽可能可持续的废物减缓途径。本文是主题为“实现聚变能源——用于能源生产的球形托卡马克（STEP）”这一特刊的一部分。
