An Improved Near Term 14 MeV Neutron Test Facility for Fusion Power Plant Materials

A near term, low cost 14 MeV neutron materials test facility has been designed that allows significant radiation damage (dpa, appm He, etc.) levels to be achieved typical of those that will be experienced in DT Demonstration or commercial DT power plants. The design described in this paper produces peak damage levels of ≈4–6 dpa/fpy in 15 cm³ and has ≈600 cm³ test volume covering the damage range from 1 to 6 dpa/fpy. The total active tritium inventory in the test facility is less than 1 g and the overall construction costs are also roughly unchanged from an earlier (2015) design. The time to initial operation remains at ≈4 years from the start of construction because it builds on an on-going project for radioisotope production already under construction. This latest facility design has the possibility to provide a 2 MW-y/m², 14 MeV neutron exposure to first wall materials in less than 4 fpy’s of operation.