Objectives feasibility assessment of the water-cooled lithium–lead mock-up testing in ITER

This paper presents a short description of the latest design version of the water-cooled Pb–17Li test-blanket module system and the proposal for the test program to be performed during the ITER Basic Performance Phase. The present R&D program foresees to start the test on the first day of ITER operation. The test-blanket module is expected to use all technologies required for the corresponding DEMO blanket (e.g. same structural material, double-wall tubes, permeation barriers) presently under development. Main testing objectives are the demonstration of the system functionality and the validation of the predictions obtained from the theoretical analyses. The feasibility of such objectives is discussed from the point of view of instrumentation and interpretation.