Design and Analyses of Rotating Tritium Target System for High Intensity D–T Fusion Neutron Generator

High intensity D–T fusion neutron generator is important for nuclear radiation safety study, experimental research of blanket material radiation damage and activation analysis of fusion reactors. A rotating tritium target system for a 10¹² n/s D–T fusion neutron generator was proposed in this paper. The physical, thermotechnical and mechanical designs were introduced. To investigate the heat transfer and neutronics characteristics of this target system, the heat transfer processes were simulated by CFD method and the neutronics analyses were carried out by a Monte Carlo neutronics analysis code. The results show that big water layer thickness, big water flow rate and high rotating speed were good for the cooling of the target system, but the effects of the water layer thickness and flow rate on the heat transfer were very small. The heat power density on the target should be under a limit value. The proportion of the neutrons whose energy was bigger than 14 MeV in all generated neutrons was about 93.5 % on the outer surface of water cover, which could meet the design and experimental requirements of the tritium target system of the 10¹² n/s neutron generator.