Conceptual design of the main Ancillary Systems of the ITER Water Cooled Lithium Lead Test Blanket System

Abstract The Water Cooled Lithium Lead Test Blanket System (WCLL TBS) is one of the EU Test Blanket Systems candidate for being installed and operated in ITER. In view of its Conceptual Design Review by F4E and ITER Organization (IO), planned for mid-September 2020, several technical activities have been performed in the areas of WCLL TBS Ancillary Systems design. In this article the outcomes of the conceptual design phase of the four main Ancillary Systems of WCLL TBS, namely the Water Cooling System (WCS), the Coolant Purification System (CPS), the PbLi loop and the Tritium Extraction System (TES), are reported and critically discussed. In particular, for each Ancillary System hereafter a…

Experimental tests and thermo-mechanical analyses on the HEXCALIBER mock-up

Abstract Within the framework of the R&D activities promoted by European Fusion Development Agreement on the helium-cooled pebble bed test blanket module to be irradiated in ITER, ENEA Brasimone and the Department of Nuclear Engineering of the University of Palermo performed intense research activities on the modelling of the thermo-mechanical behaviour of both beryllium and lithiated ceramics pebble beds, which are envisaged to be used, respectively, as neutron multiplier and tritium breeder. In particular, at the DIN a thermo mechanical constitutive model was developed for both lithiated ceramics and beryllium pebble beds and it was successfully implemented on a commercial finite element …

Preparation of HEXCALIBER tests and preliminary thermo-mechanical analyses

Further improvements of the water-cooled Pb–17Li blanket

Abstract The water-cooled lithium–lead (WCLL) blanket is based on reduced-activation ferritic–martensitic steel as the structural material, the liquid alloy Pb–17Li as breeder and neutron multiplier, and water at typical PWR conditions as coolant. It was developed for DEMO specifications and shall be tested in ITER. In 1999, a reactor parameter optimization was performed in the EU which yielded improved specifications of what could be an attractive fusion power plant. Compared to DEMO, such a power reactor would be different in lay-out, size and performance, thus requiring to better exploit the potential of the WCLL blanket concept in conjunction with a water-cooled divertor. Several new ap…

Steady state and transient thermal-hydraulic characterization of full-scale ITER divertor plasma facing components

Abstract In the frame of the activities related to ITER divertor R&D, ENEA CR Brasimone was in charge by EFDA (European Fusion Development Agreement) to investigate the thermal-hydraulic behaviour of the full-scale divertor plasma facing components, i.e. the outer vertical target, the inner vertical target and the dome-liner, both in steady state and during draining and drying transient. The investigation was performed by means of both experimental test campaigns performed at ENEA CR Brasimone and theoretical simulation developed in RELAP5 Mod.3.3 environment at the Department of Nuclear Engineering of the University of Palermo (DIN). This paper presents the achieved experimental results fo…

Conceptual design of the enhanced coolant purification systems for the European HCLL and HCPB test blanket modules

Abstract The Coolant Purification Systems (CPSs) is one of the most relevant ancillary systems of European Helium Cooled Lead Lithium (HCLL) and Helium Cooled Pebble Bed (HCPB) Test Blanket Modules (TBMs) which are currently in the preliminary design phase in view of their installation and operation in ITER. The CPS implements mainly two functions: the extraction and concentration of the tritium permeated from the TBM modules into the primary cooling circuit and the chemistry control of helium primary coolant. During the HCLL and HCPB-TBSs (Test Blanket Systems) Conceptual Design Review (CDR) in 2015 it was recognized the need of reducing the tritium permeation into the Port Cell #16 of ITE…