Performance and remote maintenance of attachment schemes for Plasma Facing Components

The divertor design for the ITER-FEAT fusion reactor is based on cassettes which comprise a reusable body and three sacrificial Plasma Facing Components (PFCs) expected to be replaced in a hot-cell a number of times during machine lifetime. Central to this maintenance approach are the PFC-to-cassette attachments which must be readily assembled/disassembled by remote handling methods and withstand severe mechanical and thermal loading conditions during machine operation. This paper describes the facilities, equipment and methods used to carry out extensive testing of two attachment schemes, shear keys and multi-links, in order to assess their in-service performance and suitability to remote maintenance operations.