S. Roccella

A Reliable Technology to Manufacture the ITER Inner Vertical Target

Abstract ENEA and Ansaldo Nucleare S.p.A. (EA) have been deeply involved in the European International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) research and development activities for the manufacturing of high-heat-flux plasma-facing components and in particular for the inner vertical target (IVT) of the ITER divertor. These components have to be manufactured by using both armor and structural materials whose properties are defined by ITER. Their physical properties prevent the use of standard joining techniques. The reference armor materials are tungsten and carbon/carbon fiber composite (CFC), and for the cooling pipe, the materials are a copper alloy (CuCrZr). During the last years EA have jointly manufactured several actively cooled mock-ups and prototypical components of different lengths, geometries, and materials by using innovative processes: hot radial pressing (HRP) and prebrazed casting (PBC). The HRP technique is based on radial diffusion bonding between the cooling tube and the armor material obtained by pressurizing only the cooling tube while the joining zone is kept in vacuum and at the required bonding temperature. The heating is obtained by a standard air furnace. The PBC process is used for the CFC armor tile preparation. A soft copper interlayer between the tube and armor is necessary to mitigate the stress at the joint interface, and it is obtained by pure copper casting that follows the activation of the CFC surface by a standard brazing alloy. The optimization of the processes started from the successful manufacturing of both tungsten and CFC small-scale mock-ups and successful testing under the worst ITER operating condition (20 MW/m2) through the achievement of record performances obtained from a medium-scale vertical target CFC and tungsten armored mock-up: After ITER-relevant heat flux fatigue testing (20 MW/m2 for 2000 cycles, CFC part, and 15 MW/m2 for 2000 cycles, tungsten part), it reached a critical heat flux of 35 MW/m2 at ITER-relevant thermal-hydraulic conditions. Based on these results EA participated in the European program for the qualification and manufacturing of the divertor IVT, according to the Fusion for Energy (F4E) specifications. A divertor IVT prototype (400-mm total length) with three plasma-facing-component units was successfully tested at ITER-relevant thermal heat fluxes (20 MW/m2 for 3000 cycles, CFC part, and 15 MW/m2 for 3000 cycles, tungsten part). Now, EA are ready to face the challenge of the ITER IVT production, transferring to an industrial production line the experience gained in the development, optimization, and qualification of the PBC and HRP processes.

Acceptance tests of iter vertical target divertor full scale plasma facing units fabricated by HRP

ENEA and Ansaldo Nucleare S.p.A. (ANN) have being deeply involved in the European International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) development activities for the manufacturing of the inner vertical target (IVT) plasma-facing components of the ITER divertor. During normal operation the heat flux deposited on the bottom segment of divertor is 5-10 MW/m2 but the capability to remove up to 20 MW/m2 during transient events of 10 seconds must also be demonstrated. This component has to be manufactured by using armour and cooling pipe materials defined by ITER. The physical properties of these materials prevent the use of standard joining techniques. In order to overcome this difficulty, ENEA has set up and widely tested a manufacturing process, titled Hot Radial Pressing (HRP), suitable for the construction of these components. The last challenge is now to fabricate, by means the new HRP facility, a full scale prototype of the IVT for the final qualification and ENEA-ANN are now involved in the F4E-OPE138 contract where the fabrication of this component. The tolerances and acceptance criteria of the IVT plasma facing units (PFU) are fixed by ITER/F4E and are very tight. The objective of manufacturing a PFU that satisfies these requirements is an ambitious target. The final acceptance control to check the component compliance with the acceptance criteria is performed by ultrasonic water gap technique. A new equipment suitable for the final control of PFUs by ultrasonic was developed in ENEA with the purpose of speeding up the testing whilst mantaining the required technique resolution.