Experimental and calculated basis of the lithium capillary system as divertor material

First results as experimental and calculated basis of a new concept are described in the paper. Experimental models of liquid lithium capillary structure have been tested at long-pulse high heat loads, The power lands on the capillary target up to 50 MW/m(2) were provided by an electron beam with electron energy less than or equal to 9 keV in a longitudinal magnetic field of 0.25 T. Seven experiments were performed with the different capillary targets. The effects of disruption discharges in tokamaks have been simulated by means of magnetized plasma flows with pulse length of 0.2 ms, electron density of 10(22) m(3) and energy density up to 4 MJ/m(2). The plasma flow was generated by a quasistationary plasma accelerator and interacted with a lithium capillary structure. 2D modelling of the ITER divertor with a lithium target is presented as the first step in the validation of a new divertor concept. A lithium radiative divertor scenario has been examined for thr: ITER using DDIC95 code. First calculations have shown that thermal loads on the divertor plates are reduced down to 1.3 MW/m(2). The main power is radiated in the divertor.