Status of IFMIF design and R and D

The research in fusion by magnetic confinement is more and more oriented towards the design of a pre-industrial reactor, hopefully for the middle of this century. Two main knowledge categories are mandatory and structure the international effort in this domain of research: * The physics of the plasma, and in particular its behaviour in combustion, its interaction with the components facing it, and all technologies specific to fusion (superconducting magnets, very high flux components, remote handling, tritium cycle, etc.) * The materials adequate for the plasma facing components and the structure of the machine (vacuum vessel in particular), the energy of fusion neutrons (14 MeV) and their intensity being well beyond fission neutrons. ITER, whose construction has been decided in June 2005, is an international effort aiming at answering to the first set of questions. The knowledge and characterisation of materials for fusion will be devoted to a second installation, called IFMIF (International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility). IFMIF consists of a set of two parallel deuteron accelerators (40 MeV, 125 mA each, CW) bringing the beams to a liquid lithium target flowing at a velocity of about 15 m/s. The interaction between the deuterons and the lithium generates a flux of neutrons whose spectrum is rather well suited with fusion needs (main peak at 14 MeV). Three sets of test cells will host the material samples, with damage rates ranging from 50 dpa per year to a few dpa per year for the lowest part of the test facilities. The overall available volume is 8 litres. After several conceptual phases, the Engineering Validation and Engineering Design Activities (EVEDA) are starting in the framework of a bilateral collaborative effort between the European Union and Japan, called Broader Approach. The talk describes the overall project, its main challenges and its organisation. (orig.)