Analysis of the nuclear loads on Chromium monoblock divertor target for DEMO

Abstract

The Plasma Facing Components (PFCs) of DEMO divertor play a fundamental role for the heat removal and particle exhaust functions, during fusion plasma. This implies a very harsh operation environment characterized by the combination of complex loading and stress conditions, intense particle bombardment, high heat flux deposition and a significant neutron irradiation. In the framework of the European DEMO divertor project (WPDIV), several target design concepts alternative to the baseline ITER-like technology are under evaluation, such as Chromium block design. It consists of chromium block, tungsten armor tile and copper alloy cooling pipe, and it is very attractive from an activation reduction, waste management and safety point of view. Therefore, the assessment of the most impacting nuclear loads for the PFC design is a pivotal aspect for DEMO divertor R&D program and this study is fully devoted to the comprehension of the spatial distributions of the main nuclear quantities (radiation damage, He-production and nuclear heating density) on the overall divertor targets. Neutronics analyses have been performed with MCNP5 Monte Carlo code using both DEMO MCNP Water Cooled Lithium Lead (WCLL) and Helium Cooled Pebble Bed (HCPB) blanket models, with a fully heterogeneous representation of the divertor cassette and Chromium PFCs geometry. The results of this analysis show that nuclear heating density and radiation damage distributions are higher with WCLL blanket than HCPB, except for He-production which seems not significantly affected by the blanket configuration. For each nuclear quantity, the peak values are achieved in correspondence of the baffle region and especially on the external units of the targets, as expected, being this region the most exposed to irradiation.