Neutron shielding and its impact on the ITER machine design

This paper describes the efforts made in the frame of the ITER project to analyze the shielding of the superconducting magnets. First, the radiation limits to be achieved are specified as well as the neutron source in terms of wall loading on the first wall of the machine. Then the general shield concept is explained, including the most essential details of the various shield components. A brief section is devoted to the calculational tools, the data base, and the safety factors to be applied to the results obtained. The neutronics models of four different configurations are summarized as they were used to study the most critical parts of the machine. This section is followed by a presentation of the most important results from one-, two- and three-dimensional calculations. They are given for both the reference design and an improved one in which the critical regions are reinforced with respect to their shielding capability. It is concluded that the ITER shield layout just marginally meets the stated limits provided that some tungsten is included in the critical regions. A slight revision of the overall machine dimensions with the aim to achieve a less complex shield and a higher margin with respect to the limits is, however, seen the better solution. (orig.)