Speaker
Description
Following ITER, DEMO reactor is expected to demonstrate the feasibility of safe,
environmentally friendly and economically viable fusion power generation. During operation
of DEMO, the materials will be exposed to a particular hostile environment as a consequence
of the energetic neutrons created by fusion reactions in the plasma. The level of damage
expected in fusion conditions is such that the performance of materials and components under
these extreme irradiation conditions is unknown. One of the central objectives of the fusion
materials program is to identify innovative materials development routes, using scientific
understanding and knowledge of how materials properties evolve and change in the operating
environment of a fusion power plant.
In this respect, IFMIF is considered as one of the main pillars in the international fusion
program. Its double deuteron beam 125 mA each will produce enough rate of damage behind
the lithium target to make available in a few years information on materials damage at DEMO
relevant doses. On the other hand, DONES (DEMO Oriented Neutron Source) has been
conceived as a simplified IFMIF-like plant to provide in a reduced time scale and with a
reduced budget – both compared to IFMIF- the basic information on materials damage.
Although both facilities are designed to provide experimental data on how the material
properties change under energetic neutron irradiation, the design of experiments to be carried
out to test materials implies various computational challenges. During our talk we shall review
the different computational fields associated to IFMIF and DONES facilities, such as beam
dynamics, neutronic transport, calculation of collision cascades and the simulation of the
microstructure evolution in the irradiated materials.
