Ponente
Descripción
The Water-Cooled Lithium-Lead (WCLL) Breeding Blanket (BB) is one of three concepts actively developed by EUROfusion as driver blanket candidates for the EU Fusion Demonstration Plant (EU-FDP). This reference design employs liquid PbLi eutectic as breeder material and water as coolant, integrated with EUROFER structures. Despite significant design progress, critical technologies—including PbLi/EUROFER compatibility, tritium management systems, and thermo-mechanical behavior—require qualification under genuine fusion neutron irradiation.
To achieve this qualification, ENEA and CIEMAT have established a collaborative effort to design and develop a Water-Cooled Lithium-Lead Test Blanket Unit (WCLL-TBU) for irradiation testing at the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility – Demo Oriented Neutron Source (IFMIF-DONES). The TBU-WCLL targets a neutron irradiation environment representative of the WCLL EU-FDP breeder zone.
This work presents a sensitivity study of irradiation effects on WCLL-TBU materials considering the first conceptual design, as a function of different IFMIF-DONES Test Cell configurations. Parametric analyses identified optimal configurations that maximize tritium breeding performance, irradiation uniformity, and damage metrics. This study provides clear guidance on the most appropriate Test Cell configurations to achieve optimal irradiation conditions for validating breeding blanket technology under FDP-relevant neutron environments.