Fusion-based hydrogen production reactor and its material selection

Abstract The fusion-based hydrogen production reactor (named FDS-III), one of the series of fusion system design concepts developed in China, is designated to exploit the fusion energy advanced application for the production of hydrogen. In this paper, a conceptual design of FDS-III is presented, including the design of plasma core, high temperature blanket, divertor and related auxiliary systems. In particular, an innovative high temperature liquid blanket (named HTL) concept with the multi-layer flow channel inserts in the liquid metal LiPb channels and the reduced activation ferritic/martensitic steel as the structural material is proposed to achieve LiPb outlet temperature of about 1000 °C for high efficient production of hydrogen. The preliminary performance analyzes have demonstrated the feasibility of the design. Based on the design and analyzes, a selection of the materials for the FDS-III reactor and related auxiliary systems has been performed with indication of further R&D needs.