Development of manufacturing processes for the ITER helium-cooled pebble bed blanket test module

The European helium-cooled pebble bed (HCPB) blanket is a solid breeder blanket concept for the future DEMO reactor. The HCPB test module for ITER corresponds, with respect to the general design and functions, to the DEMO blanket. In this paper the most important manufacturing and assembly steps, including inspection methods for the ITER test module, are pointed out. The manufacturing processes for these different steps are discussed, and a summary of the main results that have been achieved in the current development programs is given. The encouraging results that have been obtained so far for all manufacturing steps confirm the feasibility of the ITER test module. A short survey of the future development work in the current programs and the work on alternative fabrication techniques for the manufacturing of the first wall are presented.