DEVELOPMENT OF CERAMIC BREEDER BLANKETS IN JAPAN

Ceramic breeding blankets are the main options for DEMO reactor design s in JAERI, and large efforts have been made in the area of related ma terials development, engineering-scaled R&D, as well as design develop ment. A long-term R&D program was launched in 1996 to provide an engin eering database and fabrication technologies for the DEMO blanket and its performances by means of in-pile and out-of-pile mock-up tests, ai ming at module tests in ITER as a near-term target. A variety of funda mental researches have also been carried out, mainly in universities, to support the above project-oriented R&D, laying emphasis on tritium- release characteristics from the ceramic breeding materials. The prese nt paper overviews the current status of the ceramic breeding DEMO bla nket design and related R&D in Japan, and outlines the long-term devel opment program. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.