Test Blankets on the Test Stand

How to handle and coordinate future work on test blanket modules has been the focus of a three-day meeting of the Test-Blanket ad-hoc group last week in Aix-en-Provence. Test Blankets are one of the key reactor-relevant elements to be tested on ITER.

The key goal of the ad-hoc group, a body created to integrate the various approaches from all seven ITER Members, was to explore a time table on how to proceed with the Test Blanket Program. "Test Blankets play an important part in developing fusion power plants and they will have to be there on the first day of ITER operation," Valery Chuyanov, ITER Deputy Director for Fusion Science and Technology, commented. "It is our job to develop an integrated research plan that allows us to study functional material behaviour, plasma behaviour, the resulting energy cycle and the tritium recycling capacity for blanket materials."