Remote Handling in the Accelerator Systems of DONES

• Published in: IEEE transactions on plasma science Vol. 48; no. 6; pp. 1743 - 1747
• Main Authors: Arranz, Fernando, Micciche, Gioacchino, Coloma, Sofia, Sanchez-Herranz, Daniel, Nomen, Oriol, Ferre, Manuel, Ibarra, Angel
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.06.2020; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Beam dump (BD); Cranes; DEMO-oriented neutron source (DONES); DEMOstration (DEMO); Deuterons; Downtime; Fasteners; Gamma rays; Impact damage; Installation; Ion beams; Irradiation; Lead; Magnets; Maintenance; Maintenance engineering; Materials handling; Monitoring; Neutron flux; Neutrons; Nuclear power plants; Nuclear reactions; Physical properties; Reactors; Remote handling; remote handling (RH); Scrapers; Vacuum systems
• ISSN: 0093-3813; 1939-9375
• DOI: 10.1109/TPS.2020.2969262

DEMOstration (DEMO)-oriented neutron source (DONES) will be an installation for fusion material testing, with a neutron flux of 14 MeV by Li(d, xn) nuclear reactions thanks to a deuteron beam colliding on a liquid Li flow. The expected neutron flux is in the order of <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">10^{18}\,\,\text{m}^{-2}\cdot \text{s}^{-1} </tex-math></inline-formula> to get irradiation conditions comparable to those on the first wall of a fusion reactor. The test systems will include specimens to be irradiated and later on tested in order to quantify the impact of nuclear damage on mechanical and physical properties. Such experiments will support the future design of DEMO (DEMO power plant based on a fusion reactor). The accelerator systems providing high energy deuterons will receive neutrons as well as gamma rays once the operation of the installation starts hence requiring remote handling (RH) for maintenance on certain components. Particularly a beam dump used for the commissioning phase and the scrapers protecting some high energy beam transport (HEBT) magnets, should be maintained and occasionally replaced by means of RH. The system devised for the RH operations is described together with the requirements imposed on the HEBT designers and Plant Systems designers such that the RH equipment can perform the maintenance in a reduced downtime.