Status of activities on the lithium target in the key element technology phase in IFMIF

This paper describes the status of the liquid lithium (Li) target facility in the key element technology phase (KEP) of the International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF). The IFMIF is being jointly developed by the European Union (EU), Japan (JA), Russian Federation (RF) and US to provide an accelerator-based D–Li neutron source for testing the candidate materials for fusion reactors. A key issue of the Li target is to obtain a stable liquid Li flow with a speed of 20 m/s under a deuterium beam deposition of 10 MW. In the KEP, 19 tasks for the Li target are proposed and shared by EU, JA and RF. These tasks are a Li simulation experiment by water jet, Li flow experiment, corrosion/erosion, remote handling of the target assembly, and safety analysis. In addition to the KEP tasks, detailed design of the target is being performed.