Development of the Cascade Inertial-Confinement-Fusion Reactor

Cascade, originally conceived as a football-shaped, steel-walled reactor containing a Li₂O granule blanket, is now envisaged as a double-cone-shaped reactor containing a two-layered (three-zone) flowing blanket of BeO and LiAlO₂ granules. Average blanket exit temperature is 1670 K and gross plant efficiency (net thermal conversion efficiency) using a Brayton cycle is 55%. The reactor has a low-activation SiC-tiled wall. It rotates at 50 rpm, and the granules are transported to the top of the heat exchanger using their peripheral speed; no conveyors or lifts are required. The granules return to the reactor by gravity. After considerable analysis and experimentation, we continue to regard Cascade as a promising reactor concept with the advantages of safety, efficiency, and low activation.