High-energy/intensity neutron facilities for testing fusion materials

Abstract

The current status of technology of neutron irradiation test facilities for the development of fusion materials is described focussing to those with a high feasibility of being constructed and brought into operation within a decade. Regarding the facility concept the system with the deuteron–lithium(d–Li) stripping type source has been considered as the most realistic among the currently conceivable candidates. A series of systematic surveys on facility design and neutron field characteristics made recently by an international working group have reached the same conclusion. The base technology developed earlier by the FMIT Project (Fusion Materials Testing Facility Project, 1978–1985) has recently been advanced in the accelerator technology aspect. In Japan, the ESNIT Program has been promoted since 1988, in which the capability of energy selectivity has drawn special attention in resolving the issues specific to the d–Li system. Considering designing, constructing and applying such a type of facility, a realism for a strategy of a staged upgrading process was proposed, in which the actions are to start from a medium size unit module being followed by increasing the test volume in accordance with the progress of the materials development towards the DEMO reactor.