Lifus (lithium for fusion) 6 loop design and construction

The Lifus 3 loop was designed and constructed in 2001/2002 in ENEA, to evaluate the corrosion behaviour of Fusion reference structural materials, and in particular AISI 316 and Eurofer, in flowing lithium environment. To fully accomplish the experimental program originally foreseen for Lifus 3 and not respected it was decided in 2010 to build a new experimental facility, simplified from the hydraulic point of view, capable of performing the set of tests required by the IFMIF community. The operating parameters of this loop, named Lifus 6 [1], are: isothermal loop with operating temperature of 350 °C, maximum velocity in the test section of about 16 m/s, cold trap continuously operated to remove carbon and oxygen impurities, hot trap operated in batch to remove nitrogen ones. An integral measurement of impurities is made on line by using a resistivity meter.The Lifus 6 loop design is presented in the paper.

► The design of a lithium loop to perform corrosion tests is presented.
► General design parameters are 350 °C, 16 m/s in the test section, isothermal configuration.
► The chemistry of lithium, which affects the ferrous materials compatibility with lithium, is controlled with a double trapping system: cold trap continuously operated and hot trap in the storage tank.
► An online monitoring of impurities is realized by mean of a resistivity meter.
► An offline monitoring of nitrogen content is made using sampling of lithium and successive ammonia titration technique.