? Equipment to confirm the safety of the blanket, a core component supporting the development of fusion energy, for the ITER-TBM project.
? Following the manufacture of TF coils and divertor outer vertical targets, and actively supporting the ITER project.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has completed delivery of testing equipment to the Rokkasho Fusion Institute in Aomori Prefecture, part of Japan’s National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology (QST), to confirm and demonstrate the safety of the “blanket,” a core component of a nuclear fusion reactor. The blanket system being developed at this research center will be used as Japan’s Test Blanket Module (TBM) for the ITER-TBM project, the world’s first test of blanket systems in an actual reactor environment, at ITER(Note1), the experimental fusion reactor currently under construction in southern France. Following the delivery of testing equipment, MHI has strong intention to contribute to the development of a blanket system for the ITER-TBM project through providing other systems/components such as TBMs.
The testing equipment supplied by MHI comprises four systems, the High Heat Flux Test Equipment, In Box Water Eruption Test Equipment, Be-Water Reaction Test Equipment, and Flow Assisted Corrosion Test Loop. These testing systems will be used for various experiments aimed at developing a blanket system for the ITER-TBM project, and to confirm its safety. The blanket is one of the components that comprises the inner wall of the fusion reactor. It is a critical component that extracts the heat generated by the reactor, as well as provides for breeding and self-sustainment(Note2) of tritium, which is used as fuel.
ITER is an international megaproject to demonstrate, both scientifically and technologically, the feasibility of fusion energy. ITER-TBM is a project to conduct functional demonstration testing of different TBM systems, each developed independently by four of the seven participating parties (Japan, the EU, the U.S., Russia, South Korea, China, and India). Because the results from this project will influence the relative merits of blanket systems for commercial reactors in the future, each country is actively developing TBMs with demonstrated functionality and safety. In Japan, QST, as the domestic agency for the ITER Project, is leading the development of the country's blanket system.
MHI was previously awarded contracts from QST for manufacture of core components for ITER, including five (of a total of 19) toroidal field (TF) coils(Note3), four of which have been shipped, and six units of the divertor outer vertical targets(Note4), which are currently being manufactured. MHI will continue to actively support the ITER project to develop this technology, which will be vital to the stable development of the world, and contribute to the realization of fusion energy.
