Testing of water-cooled cathodes on the Westinghouse high surface heat flux test facility

As Fusion programs progress from proof-of-principle experiments toward practical fusion power reactors, parallel programs are needed to develop components capable of withstanding the extreme surface heat and particle fluxes that will be encountered. The separation of the surface physics and heat flux effects appears to be a quick and economical route to successful component design. Realizing the need for such testing systems, Westinghouse in early 1979, initiated a program to build a pressurized water heat transfer loop that could be used in conjunction with an in-place high power electron beam system (previously used for e-beam welding research) to investigate high surface heat flux (1 to 5 kW/cm/sup 2/) dissipation concepts for use in potential fusion reactor components. This system was completed early in 1980. This report describes the system, the results of the first tests fone using the system, and upgrades to the current system initiated or proposed as a result of initial operation