Manufacturing of small-scale mock-ups and of a semi-prototype of the ITER Normal Heat Flux First Wall

• Published in: Fusion engineering and design Vol. 89; no. 7-8; pp. 970 - 974
• Main Authors: Banetta, S., Zacchia, F., Lorenzetto, P., Bobin-Vastra, I., Boireau, B., Cottin, A., Mitteau, R., Eaton, R., Raffray, R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier B.V 01.10.2014
• Subjects: Bearing; Beryllium; Heat flux; Heat transfer; Hot Isostatic Pressing; ITER First Wall; Manufacturing; Panels; Small scale; Tiles; Walls; Hot Isostatic Pressing; ITER First Wall; Manufacturing
• ISSN: 0920-3796; 1873-7196
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fusengdes.2014.04.020

This paper describes the manufacturing development and fabrication of reduced scale ITER First Wall (FW) mock-ups of the Normal Heat Flux (NHF) design, including a “semi-prototype” with a dimension of 305mm×660mm, corresponding to about 1/6 of a full-scale panel. The activity was carried out in the framework of the pre-qualification of the European Domestic Agency (EU-DA or F4E) for the supply of the European share of the ITER First Wall. The hardware consists of three Upgraded (2MW/m2) Normal Heat Flux (U-NHF) small-scale mock-ups, bearing 3 beryllium tiles each, and of one Semi-Prototype, representing six full-scale fingers and bearing a total of 84 beryllium tiles. The manufacturing process makes extensive use of Hot Isostatic Pressing, which was developed over more than a decade during ITER Engineering Design Activity phase. The main manufacturing steps for the semi-prototype are described, with special reference to the lessons learned and the implications impacting the future fabrication of the full-scale prototype and the series which consists of 218 panels plus spares. In addition, a “tile-size” mock-up was manufactured in order to assess the performance of larger tiles. The use of larger tiles would be highly beneficial since it would allow a significant reduction of the panel assembly time.