The EUROfusion materials property handbook for DEMO in-vessel components—Status and the challenge to improve confidence level for engineering data

The development of a specific materials database and handbook, for engineering design of in-vessel components of EU-DEMO, is an essential requirement for assessing the structural integrity by design. For baseline in-vessel materials, including EURFOER97, CuCrZr, Tungsten as well as dielectric and optical materials, this development has been ongoing for several years within the Engineering Data and Design Integration sub-project of the EUROfusion Materials Work Package. Currently the database is insufficient to ensure reliable engineering design and safety or hazard analysis and mostly does not yet exist in established nuclear codes.

In this paper the current status of EU-DEMO database and handbook for key in-vessel materials is provided. This comprises practical steps taken to obtain the raw data, screening procedures and data storage, to ensure quality and provenance. We discuss how this procedure has been utilized to produce materials handbook chapter on EUROFER97 and the critical challenges in data accumulation for CuCrZr and Tungsten, planned mitigations and the implications this has on structural design. Finally, key elements and methodology of our strategy to develop the materials database and handbook for the in-vessel materials are outlined, including concepts to accommodate sparse irradiated materials data and links to EU-DEMO engineering design criteria.