Design and manufacturing of the ITER limiter

The International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) tokamak has been designed to have two limiter modules located outboard in horizontal ports. During the start-up and shut-down phases of the Tokamak operating cycle, the limiter defines the plasma boundary and protect the main first wall (FW) and the RF antennas from the direct contact with the plasma. Furthermore during the flat-top phase of a plasma pulse, the limiter has the same functions of a primary wall blanket module, namely: to provide a plasma-compatible surface, to withstand the radiation and charge particle flux, and to provide adequate shield to the structures behind. The paper presents the status of the limiter design with particular attention to the explanation of the reasons behind the several design and technology choices.