IFMIF - AN INTERNATIONAL FUSION MATERIALS IRRADIATION FACILITY

Significant progress has been achieved within a Conceptual Design Acti vity (CDA) phase in establishing for the fusion materials community a suitable and feasible concept for an accelerator driven D-LI stripping source that produces neutrons with a suitable energy spectrum at high intensity and sufficient irradiation volume to perform all kinds of i rradiation experiments needed to test and develop materials for fusion reactors. This CDA phase was performed during the past few years unde r the auspices of the IEA by a team of scientists and engineers from E urope, Japan, USA and Russia. The reference design of International Fu sion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF) is based on conservative l inac technology and two parallel operating 125 mA, 40 MeV deuteron bea ms that are focused onto a common liquid lithium target with a beam fo otprint of 50 mm x 200 mm. This concept provides reasonable neutron ir radiation conditions to qualify a variety of materials for an engineer ing design of an advanced fusion reactor. The suitability of this sour ce for the fusion materials community will be outlined and main result s of the IFMIF-CDA study are reviewed. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V.