Six-party qualification program of FW fabrication methods for ITER blanket module procurement

To guarantee acceptable quality of 1800 FW panels produced by six different parties (CN, EU, JA, KO, RF and US), a qualification program is essential. The qualification mock-up is 80 mm wide, 240 mm long and 81 mm thick with three beryllium tiles 10 mm thick. Three identical mock-ups will be fabricated by each of the six parties in 2006–2007 with the same method as for the ITER first wall panels. Heat flux tests will be performed on the qualification mock-ups in 2007–2008. The maximum design heat load on the ITER FW is 0.5 MW/m2 × 10,000 shots and 0.25 MW/m2 × 20,000 shots. The maximum heat flux due to MARFE (multifaceted axisymmetric radiation from the edge): 0.5–1.4 MW/m2 (up to 10 s duration) also needs to be taken into account in the heat load test conditions. Mechanical tests of joints are required using standardized methods. Only parties which have satisfied the acceptance criteria of the qualification tests can proceed to the procurement stage of the ITER FW. Semi-prototypes are also proposed before the ITER FW manufacturing.