Conceptual Design of Pebble Drop Divertor

A pebble drop divertor concept is proposed for future fusion reactor. The marked feature of this system is the use of multi-layer pebbles that consists of a central kernel and some coating layers, as a divertor surface component. By using multi-layer pebbles, pebble drop divertor have the advantages such as steady state wall pumping with low bulk tritium retention. The performance of whole divertor system depends on the characteristics of the multi-layer pebble. Particularly the maximum heat load of the system is determined by the dimensions, the layer structure and the material of a kernel. A kernel also has an important role to determine surface temperature, which affects the wall pumping efficiency. This paper presents the numerical results of the maximum allowable heat load and the surface temperature of the divertor pebble. From the numerical estimation of thermal stress and surface temperature, it is found that the radius of divertor pebble with ceramic kernel should be 0.5 1 mm.