European DEMO Fusion Reactor: Design and Integration of the Breeding Blanket Feeding Pipes

Rocco Mozzillo (), Christian Vorpahl, Christian Bachmann, Francisco A. Hernández and Alessandro Del Nevo
Additional contact information
Rocco Mozzillo: CREATE, Engineering School, Basilicata University, Campus Macchia Romana, 85100 Potenza, Italy
Christian Vorpahl: EUROfusion PMU, Boltzmannstraße 2, 85748 Garching, Germany
Christian Bachmann: EUROfusion PMU, Boltzmannstraße 2, 85748 Garching, Germany
Francisco A. Hernández: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute for Neutron Physics and Reactor Technology (INR), Hermann-von Helmholtz-Platz 1, 76344 Eggenstein-Leopoldshafen, Germany
Alessandro Del Nevo: ENEA FSN-ING-PAN, ENEA CR Brasimone, Località Brasimone, 40032 Camugnano, Italy

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 13, 1-12

Abstract: This article describes the design and configuration of the DEMO Breeding Blanket (BB) feeding pipes inside the upper port. As large BB segments require periodic replacement via the upper vertical ports, the space inside the upper port needs to be maximized. At the same time, the size of the upper port is constrained by the available space in between the toroidal field coils and the required space to integrate a thermal shield between the vacuum vessel (VV) port and the coils. The BB feeding pipes inside the vertical port need to be removed prior to BB maintenance, as they obstruct the removal kinematics. Since they are connected to the BB segments on the top and far from their vertical support on the bottom, the pipes need to be sufficiently flexible to allow for the thermal expansion of the BB segments and the pipes themselves. The optimization and verification of these BB pipes inside the upper port design are critical aspects in the development of DEMO. This article presents the chosen pipe configuration for both BB concepts considered for DEMO (helium- and water-cooled) and their structural verification for some of the most relevant thermal conditions. A 3D model of the pipes forest, both for the Helium-Cooled Pebble Bed (HCPB) and Water-Cooled Lithium Lead (WCLL) concepts, has been developed and integrated inside the DEMO Upper Port (UP), Upper Port Ring Channel, and Upper Port Annex (UPA). A preliminary structural analysis of the pipeline was carried out to check the structural integrity of the pipes, their flexibility against the thermal load, their internal pressure, and the deflection induced by the thermal expansion of the BB segments. The results showed that the secondary stress on the hot leg of the HCPB pipeline was above the limit, suggesting future improvements in its shape to increase the flexibility. Moreover, the WCLL concept did not have a critical point in terms of the secondary stress on the pipeline, since the thicknesses and the diameters of these pipes were smaller than the HCPB ones.

Keywords: DEMO; Breeding Blanket; Upper Port; CAD; FEM (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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