1. The shield block is a modular system made up of austenitic steel SS316 LN-IG whose main function is to provide thermal and nuclear shielding of outer components and to supply the FW panel with cooling water. It is mechanically attached to the vacuum vessel via four flexible supports (with Inconel-718 bolts) and a system of keys. Electrical insulation coatings are applied to the mechanical attachments to prevent electrical current flowing through the supports and to monitor the EM loads on the blanket. 23-25 November 2010 Presented by A. Rene Raffray MIIFED Status of ITER Blanket Design, R&D and Qualification R. Raffray 1, D. Loesser 2, M. Merola 1, and IO and DA contributors within the Blanket Integrated Product Team 1 ITER Organization, Route de Vinon sur Verdon, 13115 St Paul Lez Durance, France, 2 Blanket Integrated Product Team, Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08543 USA Blanket System R&D Shield Block and Attachment The Blanket System provides a physical boundary for the plasma transients and contributes to the thermal and nuclear shielding of the Vacuum Vessel (VV) and external ITER components. It consists of modular shielding elements known as Blanket Modules (BM) comprising two major components: a plasma facing First Wall (FW) panel and a Shield Block (SB). Each BM is attached to the vacuum vessel through a mechanical attachment system of flexible supports and a system of keys. Each BM has electrical straps providing electrical connection to the vacuum vessel. Cooling water (at 3 MPa and 100°C) is supplied to the BMs by manifolds supported off the VV behind or to the side o the SB. The BMs are segmented into 18 poloidal locations, rows 1 to 6 are the inboard region, rows 7 to 10 are the upper region and rows 11 to 18 are the outboard region. A detailed R&D program has been planned in support of the design, covering a range of key topics such as critical heat flux (CHF) tests on FW mock-ups, experimental determination of the behavior of the attachment and insulating layer under prototypical conditions, material testing under irradiation, and demonstration of the different remote handling procedures. A major goal of the R&D effort is to converge on a semi-prototype program for the SB and FW panels. The primary objective of the semi-prototype qualification program is to demonstrate that the supplying DA can provide FW components of acceptable quality. The components must also be capable of successfully passing the formal test program including heat flux tests in the case of the FW panel. Acceptance criteria for manufacturing and test of the semi-prototype shall be demonstrated through this formal qualification program and prototypical thermal flux levels (e.g. of 5MW/m 2 for the EHF FW panel) shall be sustained The Blanket system has been subject to a substantial re-design following the ITER Design Review of 2007. The Blanket CDR in February 2009 has confirmed the correctness of this re-design and the effort is now focused on finalizing the design work and the supporting R&D program in view of the start of procurement late in 2012. This paper summarizes the status of the blanket system design and describes some of the key R&D activities in support of the design. Summary First Wall Schematic of Blanket Sector Showing Blanket Modules in Inboard and Outboard Regions The FW panels represent some of the most technically challenging components of the ITER machine as they must accommodate the plasma loads during start-up and shut down where some of them operate as a limiter and during flat top. This necessitates the use of a shaped surface to shadow leading edges and also of a combination of normal (NHF) and enhanced heat flux (EHF) FW panels, the former accommodating typical heat fluxes of ~1-2 MW/m 2 and the latter of up to 4-5 MW/m 2 at the most loaded locations. The surface of each panel is constituted of two shaped wings, assembled from toroidal plasma facing units, which allows for reduced EM loads and better power load distribution among the elements. These units are composed of plasma-facing fingers designed for both the EHF and NHF FW panels and utilizing the same interfaces and attachment features. Each finger comprises a series of beryllium (Be) armour tiles, a copper alloy (CuCrZr) water- cooled heat sink and stainless steel (SS) support structure. Two types of heat sink are considered necessary for the heat flux levels: a SS tube for the NHF FW panels, in which the SS tubes are embedded into a copper alloy (CuCrZr); and a CuCrZr alloy rectangular (or hypervapotron (HV)) channel for the EHF FW panels. The cooling water to the FW panel is supplied from the SB. CHF Testing at Efremov Institute, RF Schematic of SB flexible support