Speaker
Gaetano Bongiovi
(Department of Energy)
Description
The availability of a high flux neutron source for testing candidate materials under irradiation conditions which will be typically encountered in future fusion power reactors is a fundamental step towards the development of fusion energy. To this purpose, IFMIF (International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility) represents the reference option to provide the fusion community with a source capable of irradiating samples at a damage rate of up to 20 dpa/fpy (in steel) in a volume of 0.5 l.This concept is based on a high-speed liquid lithium target which is stricken by a 10 MW double deuteron beam to produce 14 MeV-peaked neutrons. In the framework of the engineering design activities of IFMIF, ENEA is committed in the design of the lithium target assembly (TA) with removable (bayonet) backplate (BP) whose development has recently progressed under the IFMIF/EVEDA project up to a well advanced stage. However, an optimization of the system is still to be accomplished. In particular, the BP design needs to be revised in order to satisfy the ITER SDC-IC reference design criteria for thermally-induced stresses and fulfill the requirements on its lifetime which is limited by the neutron-induced swelling effects.In this work, a full thermomechanical analysis of the whole TA including a pseudo-transient simulation of the swelling effects in the BP over one year of full power operation was performed by the University of Palermo by means of a 3-D finite element model implemented through a qualified FE software package. A detailed neutronic analysis was also performed by ENEA using the MCNP code to obtain the prompt nuclear responses to be used as input for the thermomechanical calculations. A new BP design capable to verify the design rules criteria and ensure its required swelling lifetime is proposed and described on the basis of the results of the performed analysis.
Co-authors
Davide Bernardi
(C.R. Brasimone, ENEA, 40032 Camugnano (BO), Italy)
Gaetano Bongiovi
(Department of Energy, Information Engineering and Mathematical Models, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Edificio 6, 90128 Palermo, Italy)
Gioacchino Micciche
(C.R. Brasimone, ENEA, 40032 Camugnano (BO), Italy)
Manuela Frisoni
(ENEA Bologna, ENEA, Via Martiri di Monte Sole 4, Bologna, Italy)
Maria Lorena Richiusa
(Department of Energy, Information Engineering and Mathematical Models, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Edificio 6, 90128 Palermo, Italy)
Pietro Alessandro Di Maio
(Department of Energy, Information Engineering and Mathematical Models, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Edificio 6, 90128 Palermo, Italy)
Pietro Arena
(Department of Energy, Information Engineering and Mathematical Models, University of Palermo, Viale delle Scienze, Edificio 6, 90128 Palermo, Italy)
