Testing needs for the development and qualification of a breeding blanket for DEMO

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to critically review the testing and qualification strategy for the DEMO breeding blanket in Europe, identifying the potential risks and weaknesses and recommending, where necessary, the changes required to strengthen or accelerate the programme. Based on the information presented in this paper, a risk mitigation strategy is required to reduce the technological, licencing, and regulatory risks associated with the performance and reliability of the breeding blanket technologies for DEMO. An attractive mitigation option, which was originally proposed more than 30 years ago, but that was not implemented, is to perform testing and qualification of breeding blanket technologies and design concepts in a dedicated nuclear plasma device that serves as a 14 MeV Volumetric Neutron Source (VNS).

On the Scalability of a Membrane Unit for Ultrapure Hydrogen Separation

“…The experimental test matrix is derived from the outcomes of the TCS-series test performed in the HyFraMe facility, aimed at the assessment of the Pd-Ag permeator performance under relevant conditions for the EU-DEMO Tritium Conditioning System (TCS) [22]. The EU-DEMO will be the European demonstrator of a fusion power plant, and the TCS will be responsible for the recovery of tritium generated in the so-called Breeding Blanket (BB), an innovative component aimed at breeding tritium, delivering thermal power to the coolant system, and shielding various components from nuclear radiation [32][33][34][35]. Once generated, tritium is extracted from the BB by means of a helium purge flow rate, and, after preliminary processing, a mixture of tritium and helium (around 90-95 mol% in tritium) is obtained [36].…”

Optimized Water Distillation Layout for Detritiation Purpose

“…The Breeding Blanket (BB) represents the step forward from ITER to a Fusion Power Plant (FPP), being the most important and novel components. Its central role in the development of a FPP is demonstrated by the great attention posed by the European fusion community (e.g., the EUROfusion consortium) on the testing and qualification strategy for the EU-DEMO BB [1]. The essential functionalities of a FPP BB can be summarized as (i) the need to absorb the largest part of the fusion energy transported by neutrons and delivers it to the Primary Heat Transport System (PHTS), (ii) the ability to breed enough tritium for self-sufficiency of the machine, and (iii) the contribution, along with the vacuum vessel, to the shielding of various components from nuclear radiation.…”