Preparation of the liquid lithium divertor plates for NSTX

Each of the four toroidal panels of the liquid lithium divertor being installed in NSTX for operation in the 2010 campaign is a conical section inclined at 22° like the previous graphite divertor tiles. Each panel is a copper plate clad with stainless steel and a surface layer of porous plasma sprayed molybdenum (Mo) that will host lithium deposited from an evaporator. This paper describes the processes in fabrication; these include cutting to rough shape, die pressing into conical sections, machining to near final shape with holes for electrical heaters, thermocouples and a groove for a cooling tube, brazing of the 0.25-mm cladding and vacuum plasma spraying of the Mo coating.