Investigations into X-Ray Damage to the First Wall of the Inertial Confinement Fusion Laboratory Microfusion Facility

Abstract

The target chamber of an Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) power plant or of an ICF Laboratory Microfusion Facility (LMF)¹ must survive repetitive blasts from microexplosions of targets. The LMF would explode perhaps as many as 1500 targets, each with a yield of 1000 MJ, over its 30 year lifetime, and several thousand more at lower yields. A typical ICF power plant design might explode 10⁸ targets per year. One challenge of ICF target chamber design is the mitigation of the effects of the target generated x-rays on the first surface. The design criteria for the LMF and for an ICF power plant differ significantly. Because of the large number of explosions, the first surface for a power plant must have essentially no vaporization of the solid wall or erosion of the wall will limit the lifetime. Wall erosion is a minor issue for the LMF, so significant vaporization of the first wall material could occur. One consequence of significant vaporization is the launching of shock waves into the solid wall. These vaporization driven shocks are the subject of this paper.