IFMIF - DONES

The implementation of the nuclear fusion as power source requires the development of materials able to withstand the aggressive environment of the reaction chambers. High neutron fluences of energetic neutrons, photons and implantation of ions will produce a unique combination of events with challenging manifestation at macroscopic level. Erosion of the first wall, embrittlement and cracking of structural materials, and coloring and darkening of optical elements are the most obvious consequences. These are rather complex physical processes which cannot be completely be simulated with numerical calculations.

IFMIF-DONES will be an irradiation facility, based on a deuteron accelerator of 40 MeV energy impacting in a lithium target with a current of 7,8×10¹⁷ d/s. The result of the induced nuclear reactions is a neutron source with an intensity of 2,5×10¹⁶ n/s. This neutron flux is expected to create to a set of steel samples, a neutron damage equivalent to that in future fusion reactors.

These neutrons, and other produced unintendedly along the accelerator, result in a neutron and photon field, which must be shielded to protect workers, public and the environment. At the same time, the neutrons induce the activation of the air and the materials. TECFIR has produced nuclear analyses for a safe design of the facility, in the framework of the Eurofusion consortium.