Status of the EU DEMO breeding blanket manufacturing R&D activities

The realization of a DEMOnstration Fusion Power Reactor (DEMO) to follow ITER, with the capability of generating several hundred MW of net electricity and operating with a closed fuel-cycle by 2050, is viewed by Europe as the remaining crucial step towards the exploitation of fusion power. The EUROfusion Consortium, in the frame of the European Horizon 2020 Program, has been assessing four different breeding blanket concepts in view of selecting the reference one for DEMO. This paper describes technologies and manufacturing scenarios developed and envisaged for the four blanket concepts, including nuclear “conventional” assembly processes as GTAW, electron beam and laser welding, Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP), and also more advanced (from the nuclear standpoint) technologies as additive manufacturing techniques. These developments are performed in conformity with international standards and/or design/manufacturing codes. Topics as the metallurgical weldability of EUROFER steel and the associated risks or the development of appropriate filler wire are discussed. The development of protective W-coating layers on First Wall, with Functionally Graded (FG) interlayer as compliance layer between W and EUROFER substrate, realized by Vacuum Plasma Spraying method, is also propounded. First layer systems showed promising layer adhesion, thermal fatigue and thermal shock properties. He-cooled mock-ups, representative of the First Wall with FG W/EUROFER coating are developed for test campaigns in the HELOKA facility under relevant heat fluxes.