ITER PLASMA FACING COMPONENTS, DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

The paper summarizes the collaborative effort of the ITER Conceptual Design Activity (CDA) on Plasma Facing Components (PFC) which focused on the following main tasks: (a) the definition of basic design concepts for the First Wall (FW) and Divertor Plates (DP), (b) the analysis of the performance and likely lifetime of these PFC designs including the identification of major critical issues, (c) the start of R&D work giving already first results, and the definition of the required further R&D program to support the contemplated ITER Engineering Design Activity (EDA). From the ITER CDA effort on PFC it is mainly concluded that: (a) the expected PFC operating conditions lead to design solutions at the limit of present technology in particular for the divertor, which may constrain the overall machine performance, (b) the development of convincing PFC designs requires an intensified R&D effort both on PFC technology and plasma physics.