Characteristics of the Arrangement of the Cooling Water Piping System for ITER and Fusion Reactor Power Station

Abstract

The ITER has been designed to demonstrate the scientific and technical feasibility of nuclear fusion energy conversion using the tokamak magnetic machine. The ITER design and operating experience will guide the realization of a future fusion power plant called DEMO which will be designed to produce electricity at competitive cost with other energy sources. ITER will be operated as a tokamak machine and requires many plasma components and plasma diagnostic equipment. The cooling water absorbs the heat from the plasma facing components composed of the first wall/blanket (FW/BLK), divertor/limiter (DIV/LIM) that operate at higher heat loads than reached in a nuclear fission power plant reactor. Following the long-term fusion study and research of the international ITER experiment, the characteristics and considerations in the arrangement of the equipment and piping for the cooling water system can be deduced. The cooling water system for a fusion reactor has many differences from the equipment and piping arrangement of a fission plant. This paper introduces ITER cooling water system design and offers an insight into the design features that will be considered in a future fusion reactor power station like DEMO. To meet its objectives, fusion specific piping design follows many of the design concept adopted in the nuclear power plant but additional special features should be taken into account in the design.