Development of Sandwich Flow Channel Inserts for an EU DEMO Dual Coolant Blanket Concept

The dual-coolant lead-lithium (DCLL) blanket concept, which is considered as a candidate for fusion power plants and possibly for a demonstration reactor (DEMO), is being investigated within the framework of the European Power Plant Physics and Technology (PPPT) study. One of major issues of the DCLL concept development is the design of the flow channel inserts (FCIs), which are essential for the reduction of magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) pressure losses. Due to the tight schedule for the short-term PPPT DEMO, a low-temperature DCLL concept with a liquid metal outlet temperature below 500°C has been proposed. This allows the use of a simpler type of FCI (taking into account the LM corrosion issues), e.g. Eurofer-Alumina-Eurofer sandwich FCI, instead of the SiCf/SiC version for high temperature case, the production thereof is challenging. This paper discusses the technological study on manufacturing of some FCI design variants and post-examination of the samples.