Overview of the ITER TBM program

Abstract

The tritium breeding blanket (TBB) technology is one of the key technologies to be solved and also one of three major issues in the development of fusion reactor in the future. The international thermonuclear experimental reactor (ITER) will be the first nuclear fusion experimental reactor in the world whilst ITER test blanket module (TBM) program is the only way to test and validate the tritium breeding blanket technologies under a real fusion environment at present. The successful implementation of ITER TBM program will provide a solid scientific and engineering foundation for fusion energy development. This paper briefly introduces the content, necessity, strategy, organizing and implementation of ITER TBM program, and summarizes the development status and achievement of test blanket system (TBS) made by the participants of ITER members. Prospects of the TBS research activities for the next phase and subsequent research focuses are presented. It is expected to provide valuable references for tritium breeding blanket design and development of China fusion engineering test reactor (CFETR), as well as the development of the TBB technologies.

Keywords

• iter
• tbm program
• tritium breeding
• testing blanket module