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Cooling Water

ITER will be equipped with a Cooling Water System to manage the heat generated during operation of the Tokamak. Water from the nearby Canal de Provence will be used to remove heat from the Vacuum Vessel and its components, and to cool the Diagnostics, Heating, Power, and Cryogenic systems. The Cooling Water System is separated into two closed heat transfer circuits plus a Cooling Tower open circuit.
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A diagram of the ITER Cooling Water System.
The water flows from the ITER plant to primary and secondary heat exchangers that reduce the water temperature from its maximum value to 50°C. The heat is released to the environment through the Cooling Tower at an average thermal power of 450 MW during plasma operation.

As ITER is a research facility and not a power plant, most of the cooling water will simply evaporate in the Cooling Towers.

The remaining water passes through a series of cooling basins. A first basin collects the outlet from the plant. The water is then tested for various parameters such as temperature (maximum 30°C), pH, hydrocarbons, chlorides, sulphates and Tritium. These results are submitted to the local authorities. Only clean water is released into the Durance River.