The Pb-17Li/water-cooled blanket is one of the concepts being developed in Europe for testing in NET (Next European Torus). JRC-Ispra is strongly involved in this development. This paper describes the impact of the latest experimental results on the blanket design. The points considered are:breeder operating temperature and thermomechanical design: experiments on corrosion with steel 316L and liquid metal embrittlement tests haver provided upper and lower limits for the breeder operating temperature (280–400 °C);tritium recovery from the breeder and permeation rate to the coolant: Ispra measurements indicate that solubility and diffusivity of hydrogen in Pb-17Li are lower as compared with the previous values used in blanket tritium analyses. The impact of these results on the design of the tritium recovery system is discussed;accident analyses: the experiments in progress at Ispra on the Pb-17Li/water interaction are reviewed and their application to a coolant pipe break accident is shown.
Tritium transport in the water cooled Pb17Li blanket concept of DEMO