LAUSR

Abstract The European DEMOnstration (DEMO) reactor precedes the development of the fully commercial fusion power plant. One of the key components of the DEMO is the first wall (FW). The FW is acted upon by extreme particle and radiation loads, which results in high heat fluxes varying across the reactor vessel. This paper attempts to evaluate two DEMO FW water cooling concepts from the stress point of view. The heat sink material chosen for the FW is Eurofer97 with thermal conductivity of ∼28 W/mK at 20 °C; the cooling conditions opted are those of pressurized water reactor (PWR), i.e. 285 °C and 15.5 MPa. In the present work it is attempted to perform the stress analysis of the two different heat sink channel configurations, these are circular pipes with countercurrent flow and channel with hypervapotron configuration. The thermo-hydraulic optimization of these components has been performed in one of the author’s previous work. The stress in the components is caused by the pressure of the fluid and increase in the temperature of the material. To accomplish the work, commercial finite element method software ANSYS is used. In a case of unsatisfactory results, further recommendations are given. Simulations are performed with P91, which is material being commonly used in power engineering and will be also used for manufacturing of the discussed configuration of DEMO FW mock-ups which will be afterwards tested in high heat flux facility HELCZA.