Current status of design and engineering analysis of Indian LLCB TBM

One of the key missions of the international thermonuclear experimental reactor (ITER) is to test and validate the various design concepts of tritium breeding blankets relevant to a power-producing reactor like DEMO. India has developed two breeding blanket concepts such as, lead lithium cooled ceramic breeder (LLCB) and helium cooled ceramic breeder (HCCB) for its DEMO. LLCB concept will be tested in ITER where Li2TiO3 ceramic breeder (CB) in the form of packed pebble beds is used as a tritium breeding material and PbLi eutectic is used as multiplier, breeder, and coolant for the CB zones. A detail engineering design and analysis has been executed for the LLCB TBM to optimize the flow parameters for helium and PbLi circuits, to estimate the temperature distribution in the various breeding zones and to ensure the thermal design limits for structural material and temperature window in ceramic breeder for effective tritium extraction. The detailed thermo-hydraulic CFD using Fluent and FE simulation studies will also be discussed in this paper.