The IGVP is part of the joint project "SyrVBreTT - Synergy Consortium Fuel Cycle and Tritium Technologies" funded by the BMBF, in which new technologies for the fuel cycle for future fusion reactors are researched and developed together with partners from science and industry.
The fuel cycle is an essential component in the infrastructure of fusion reactors. Among other things, the unused fuels deuterium and tritium from the exhaust gas must be separated from the produced helium and other gas components and fed back into the reactor in the correct mixing ratio. Furthermore, tritium is artificially produced in breeding blankets during the fusion process in the reactor. The recycling and production of tritium are essential for the operation of a fusion reactor, as tritium is very rare on earth and has a short half-life of 12.3 years. The fuel cycle must also work with as reduced a tritium inventory as possible for technical, regulatory and safety reasons.
In the SyrVBreTT project, important key technologies and concepts for a complete tritium-compatible fuel cycle for continuously operating stellarators are therefore being developed and validated. The research includes pellet injection systems, pump systems, tritium storage, modular blanket modules and tritium balancing. Other participants in the consortium are the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the Jülich Research Center, Kyoto Fusioneering Europe GmbH and Gauss Fusion. The project duration is 3 years and is funded with €16.6 million by the BMBF, with the IGVP receiving €0.95 million.
As part of the SyrVBreTT project, the IGVP is researching the metal foil pump (MFP), a key technology for separating deuterium and tritium from helium and other gas components from the exhaust gas system. The MFP works according to the principle of superpermeation and consists of a metal foil that is permeable to atomic hydrogen isotopes and a plasma source that dissociates the molecular hydrogen. It works selectively for hydrogen isotopes and also works against a pressure gradient, making it ideal for recycling unburned fuel in the fuel cycle. The IGVP investigates the basic properties of the plasma and the interactions between the plasma source and the metal foil in order to optimize the permeation flow for hydrogen isotopes and ensure long-term stability. The goal is to develop, together with the partners KIT and Kyoto Fusioneering, a reliable MFP technology that is ready for use in future fusion reactors.