THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY NEW AWARD CONTROL NUMBER: 3387-2431 NOFO: DE-FOA-0003387 (VISION OPEN 2024) PROJECT TITLE: “NESTED PEBBLE BED BLANKET (NESPEB)” DESCRIPTION: “A NEW, GROUNDBREAKING BLANKET CONCEPT CALLED ''NESTED PEBBLE BED BLANKET'' (NESPEB) WAS DEVELOPED UNDER THE SUCCESSFUL ARPA-E GAMOW FERMI PROJECT (PATENT APPLICATION ALLOWED BY THE USPTO). THE NESPEB BLANKET CONCEPT ADDRESSES CURRENT BLANKET CONCEPTS' SHORTCOMINGS AND TECHNICAL IMMATURITY, PAVING THE WAY FOR ACCELERATED DELIVERY OF FUSION POWER PLANTS (1.B.1 GOAL). NESPEB IS BASED ON NESTED PEBBLES, WHICH ARE BINARY-SIZED LITHIUM-CERAMIC PEBBLES ENCLOSED IN ''BERYLLIDE'' PERFORATED AND COATED SPHERICAL SHELLS, WHICH ARE ALSO BINARY-SIZED, STACKED ON TOP OF EACH OTHER FORMING A ''BED'' AND COOLED BY NITROGEN GAS ALSO ''SWEEPING'' THE HELIUM AND TRITIUM GENERATED BY THE NEUTRON IRRADIATION OF LITHIUM; THE PLASMA FACING MATERIAL IS TUNGSTEN WITH THE FIRST WALL COOLED BY HELIUM. THE SIMULATIONS OF THE NESPEB BLANKET USING FUSION REACTORS MODELS INTEGRATOR (FERMI) ARE ENCOURAGING AS THEY ESTIMATE A TRITIUM BREEDING RATIO (TBR) GREATER THAN 1.2 USING NATURAL LITHIUM AND EXCELLENT HEAT TRANSFER PROPERTIES. FURTHERMORE, THE NESPEB BLANKET IS NOT LIMITED BY MAGNETO-HYDRO-DYNAMICS (MHD) EFFECTS, IS DESIGNED FOR ONLINE REFUELING, RELIES ON EXISTING TRITIUM EXTRACTION TECHNOLOGIES, HAS A SIMPLE CONSTRUCTION, AND LIMITS THE CORROSION AND CHEMICAL REACTIVITY PROBLEMS.”