Containment structures and port configurations

This article describes the DEMO cryostat, the vacuum vessel, and the tokamak building as well as the system configurations to integrate the main in-vessel components and auxiliary systems developed during the Pre-Conceptual Design Phase.

The vacuum vessel is the primary component for radiation shielding and containment of tritium and other radioactive material. Various systems required to operate the plasma are integrated in its ports. The vessel together with the external magnetic coils is located inside the even larger cryostat that has the primary function to provide a vacuum to enable the operation of the superconducting coils in cryogenic condition. The cryostat is surrounded by a thick concrete structure: the bioshield. It protects the external areas from neutron and gamma radiation emitted from the tokamak. The tokamak building layout is aligned with the VV ports implementing floors and separate rooms, so-called port cells, that can be sealed to provide a secondary confinement when a port is opened during in-vessel maintenance.

The ports of the torus-shaped VV have to allow for the replacement of in-vessel components but also incorporate plasma limiters and auxiliary heating and diagnostic systems. ... mehrThe divertor is replaced through horizontal ports at the lower level, the breeding blanket (BB) through upper vertical ports. The pipe work of these in-vessel components is also routed through these ports. To facilitate the vertical replacement of the BB, it is divided into large vertical segments. Their mechanical support during operation relies on vertically clamping them inside the vacuum vessel by a combination of obstructed thermal expansion and radial pre-compression due to the ferromagnetic force acting on the breeding blanket structural material in the toroidal magnetic field.