Conceptual Design of Lithium Laboratory in the TechnoFusión Project

Abstract

The TechnoFusión project involves the construction of a relevant set of scientific-technical facilities in Madrid (Spain), providing new tools to fusion energy community. It will create an infrastructure to support the development of nuclear fusion technology, assuring participation by Spanish research groups and engineering companies.The improvement of liquid lithium technology is one of the milestones of the nuclear fusion pathway. Liquid lithium is a key component in some tritium breeding blankets and more recently, it is considered as a plasma-facing component. The development of this technology requires R&D to many phenomena: Interaction between liquid metal and structural materials as corrosion, ero- sion or embrittlement; chemical behavior of liquid lithium; coatings development; MHD; free surface fluid-dynamics; diagnosis and instrumentation of fluid lithium and any other physical or chemical aspect that will be important for their safe reliable operation and would increase the economic feasibility of commercial fusion energy. Nowadays, there is a significant shortage of experimental facilities committed to the development of the liquid lithium technology in Europe.In the framework of the TechnoFusión Project, an experimental laboratory of liquid lithium technology has been proposed, to back a real technological transfer to regional and national industrial sector. This paper summarizes the current conceptual layout of this facility.