Page 341 - Fundamentals of Magnetic Thermonuclear Reactor Design

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of a lithium–vanadium module, in which the radial dimension is restricted to
200 mm (Fig. 10.12) due to the lithium’s small volume (22 L). This restriction
is imposed by safety considerations: ITER design stipulates the ingress of the
whole volume of water and lithium into the vacuum chamber in off-normal
conditions leading to the destruction of the TBM and the water-cooled shielding
modules. It is the volume of hydrogen formed by the lithium–water reaction that
imposes the restriction on the allowable lithium quantity.
This restriction stems from ITER being a water-cooled reactor. No water
coolant is used (or used to a minimum extent) in the DEMO-S self-cooled lith-
ium blanket design. Therefore, the lithium–water reaction is not a critical issue
for DEMO-S (at least for its in-chamber components).
Most of the TBMs do not have a Be multiplier; it is only used in the Russian
and Korean designs. All modules, excluding the European and the Korean ones,

FIGURE 10.12 Russian Li–V TBM version.