Design modification and optimization of the ITER cooling water system

Abstract ITER (Latin for “the way”), the largest fusion experimental reactor in the world, is designed to demonstrate the technological feasibility of nuclear fusion energy conversion, at plant scale, from high temperature deuterium–tritium plasma using the Tokamak magnetic confinement arrangement. ITER will have a large vacuum vessel that hosts the plasma facing components. These components include the blanket and the divertor that will operate at temperatures, heat loads, and neutron flux higher than those reached in a nuclear fission power plant reactor. One of the main critical issues of the ITER reactor is the design of the cooling water system to transfer the heat generated in the plasma to the in-vessel components and the heat loads from the auxiliary systems to the environment. This paper describes the current ITER cooling water system and recent design modifications and optimizations.