Pb–17Li/water interaction in DEMO WCLL blanket: water micro-leaks

The interaction between pressurised water and liquid Pb–17Li is a topical issue for the WCLL blanket concept and needs to be studied in detail because of the potentially significant effect on the reliability and safety of the blanket. Particularly, it seems important from the design point of view to deeply investigate the consequences of coolant micro-leaks in the blanket module generated by micro-cracks with a size in the order of 10−3 mm2. This kind of interaction has been studied during an extensive experimental campaign on the RELA loops in the ENEA Research Centre at Brasimone. The results showed a reduction in the liquid metal flow-rate in the circuit and a deterioration of the heat exchange properties between breeder and coolant due to the formation and growth of solid reaction products generated by the chemical reaction between lithium and water. The molar ratio between the recovered hydrogen recovered and water injected was in the range 0.3–0.5, confirming that, in the test conditions, the main solid reaction product is lithium hydroxide (LiOH). The possible impact of these results on the TBM-ITER design is also presented and discussed.