Subscribe options

Select your newsletters:

Please enter your email address:

@

Your email address will only be used for the purpose of sending you the ITER Organization publication(s) that you have requested. ITER Organization will not transfer your email address or other personal data to any other party or use it for commercial purposes.

If you change your mind, you can easily unsubscribe by clicking the unsubscribe option at the bottom of an email you've received from ITER Organization.

For more information, see our Privacy policy.

News & Media

Latest ITER Newsline

  • Image of the week | More cladding and a new message

    As the October sun sets on the ITER worksite, the cladding of the neutral beam power buildings takes on a golden hue. One after the other, each of the scientifi [...]

    Read more

  • Cryodistribution | Cold boxes 20 years in the making

    Twenty years—that is how long it took to design, manufacture and deliver the cold valve boxes that regulate the flow of cryogens to the tokamak's vacuum system. [...]

    Read more

  • Open Doors Day | Face to face with ITER immensity

    In October 2011, when ITER organized its first 'Open Doors Day,' there was little to show and much to leave to the public's imagination: the Poloidal Field [...]

    Read more

  • Fusion | Turning neutrons into electricity

    How will the power generated by nuclear fusion reactions be converted into electricity? That is not a question that ITER has been designed to answer explicitly, [...]

    Read more

  • Fusion world | JET completes a storied 40-year run

    In its final deuterium-tritium experimental campaign, Europe's JET tokamak device demonstrated plasma scenarios that are expected on ITER and future fusion powe [...]

    Read more

Of Interest

See archived entries

ITER NEWSLINE -

The European steel that doesn't fear neutrons

At the High Flux Reactor (Petten, the Netherlands), EUROFER97 samples will be exposed to the same neutron radiation and temperature as in ITER. (Click to view larger version...)
At the High Flux Reactor (Petten, the Netherlands), EUROFER97 samples will be exposed to the same neutron radiation and temperature as in ITER.
European contractors have begun testing a candidate material for fusion reactors—a low-activation steel known as EUROFER97 that offers good resistance to high heat flux and neutron irradiation.

The European Domestic Agency has chosen EUROFER97 for the two Test Blanket Modules that it will test in ITER—the Helium-Cooled Pebble-Bed (HCPB) and the Helium-Cooled Lead Lithium (HCLL). By testing tritium concepts on ITER in a real fusion environment, scientists have a unique opportunity to explore the most promising techniques for tritium breeding that will be a critical technology for next-phase fusion devices.

Based on a contract signed with Studsvik (Sweden) in 2015, a series of tests will be performed to learn more about the physical and mechanical properties of EUROFER97.

With the help of Studsvik subcontractor NRG, testing has begun at the High Flux Reactor in Petten, the Netherlands, on samples of the material. By exposing the candidate steel to the same neutron radiation and temperature as in ITER the tests aim to demonstrate that EUROFER97 is sufficiently resistant.

After each irradiation phase, the metal will be transported back to Studsvik for detailed technical analysis. Researchers will look particularly at the brittleness of the material after irradiation, the microscopic changes that have taken place, and the extent to which material strength is affected.

Tests are expected to continue through early 2018.

Please see the original article on the European Domestic Agency website.
Click here for more on the tritium breeding program at ITER.

return to the latest published articles