AbstractSafe operation of a fusion reactor divertor requires the exhaust of heat fluxes ranging from 5 to 30 MW m−2. The different technical solutions which are proposed rely on various water cooled copper heat sink designs. The protective armour may be Tungsten, Beryllium or Carbon depending on the plasma interaction. Optimisation is achieved by an overall comparison stressing the compliance to industrial defects. Reliable designs have been proposed and tested on large elements with carbon tiles for several thousand cycles, at power levels up to 10 MW m−2.