AbstractWithin the framework of the European DEMO blanket study programme, CEA and the JRC of Ispra are jointly developing a water-cooled lithium-lead blanket concept. The new DEMONET reactor configuration released in Spring 1990 and currently specified in the EC programme is the basis of neutronic and thermomechanical studies for the proposed box-shaped blanket concept. Considering the high blanket coverage, it is now possible to reach tritium self-sufficiency without making use of beryllium (neutronic calculations indicate a global tritium breeding ratio of the order of 1.16).