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A Culham-led team has brought together over 30 international experts to help develop new design criteria for the European demonstration fusion powerplant DEMO.

DEMO is the focal point of the EUROfusion research roadmap, which aims to put fusion electricity on the power grid by 2050. Fusion engineers across Europe are already working together on design activities, and the recent DEMO workshop at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany showcased developments in the Engineering Data & Design Integration team.

The team is looking at new approaches to create design criteria that are specific to the requirements of a fusion power station, particularly when it comes to reactor materials. The design codes that have been developed in nuclear fission over the last 50 years are not applicable to parts of a fusion reactor due to the more energetic neutrons and higher temperatures involved. The ITER international fusion experiment is being built using an extension of French fast reactor codes, but these will also not all be applicable for DEMO because the neutron flux will be much greater.

The Karlsruhe workshop included representatives from industry as well as EUROfusion DEMO project streams, and covered two key reactor components – the ‘divertor’ plasma exhaust system and the blankets that will breed fusion fuel.

CCFE’s Dr Mike Gorley, who is Head of the Engineering Data & Design Integration team, said: “The workshop was a significant milestone within our project. The handover of our new methodologies for performing the engineering design analysis will help to harmonise and improve the design phase for DEMO.

“It’s another example of the growing inter-project and multinational co-operation that has been developed within the DEMO Engineering Data & Design Integration team. It highlights how we all need to continue with our co-operation to get the best DEMO design.”

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