The water-cooled lithium-lead breeding blanket is in the pre-conceptual design phase. It is a candidate option for European DEMO nuclear fusion reactor. This breeding blanket concept relies on the liquid lithium-lead as breeder-multiplier, pressurized water as coolant and EUROFER as structural material. Current design is based on DEMO 2017 specifications. Two separate water systems are in charge of cooling the first wall and the breeding zone: thermo-dynamic cycle is 295-328°C at 15.5 MPa. The breeder enters and exits from the breeding zone at 330°C. Cornerstones of the design are the single module segment approach and the water manifold between the breeding blanket box and the back supporting structure. This plate with a thickness of 100mm supports the breeding blanket and is attached to the vacuum vessel. It is in charge to withstand the loads due to normal operation and selected postulated initiating events. Rationale and progresses of the design are presented and substantiated by engineering evaluations and analyses. Water and lithium lead manifolds are designed and integrated with the two consistent primary heat transport systems, based on a reliable pressurized water reactor operating experience, and six lithium lead systems. Open issues, areas of research and development needs are finally pointed out.
This work has been carried out within the framework of the EUROfusion Consortium and has received funding from the Euratom research and training programme 2014-2018 and 2019-2020 under grant agreement No 633053. The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.