Review of accidental safety studies for the European HCPB test blanket system

Abstract

This paper presents a review of safety studies for accidental sequences in the European solid breeder test blanket module (TBM) system. These studies are the starting point for the Preliminary Safety Analysis Report of ITER, under preparation to get the construction permit first and then later the operation licence. In general the reduced inventory of activation products and tritium associated with the TBM system makes the impact of this test system almost negligible on the overall safety risk of ITER. Nevertheless, the possibility of jeopardizing the ITER safety concept has been analysed in connection to the consequences of specific accident sequences, e.g. the pressurization of the vacuum vessel due to the He coolant blow-down, the hydrogen production from the Be-steam reaction, the possible interconnection between the port cell and the vacuum vessel causing air ingress and the necessity to assure heat removal in the short and long periods. In the frame of this assessment, three LOCA sequences have been selected as representative of accidents judged to cover all scenarios envisaged in Cat II to IV events involving the TBM, namely, in-vessel LOCA, ex-vessel LOCA and in-box LOCA.