Neutronics design and supporting experimental activities in the EU

Neutronics and nuclear data have an essential role in the development programme leading to the realization of a fusion power plant. A well-qualified nuclear database and validated computational tools are required in the nuclear design of fusion devices for reliable neutronics and activation calculations with the associated uncertainties. The EU is conducting a large effort on neutronics and nuclear data for fusion applications. According to the fusion strategy, the efforts focus on the development and qualification of computational tools and nuclear data required for design analyses of ITER, in particular for the test blanket modules (TBM), and of IFMIF. A major effort is devoted to integral experiments with the objective to provide the experimental database for testing the nuclear data and validating neutronics design calculations. The paper provides an overview of the nuclear design activities conducted in the EU on the development of TBMs for ITER and the layout of material test modules for IFMIF. The focus is on the supporting neutronics efforts including the experiments for validating design calculations and nuclear data with associated uncertainties. The recent achievements will be presented and recommendations will be given for further development efforts on neutronics and nuclear data for fusion applications.