Nuclear and Thermal Analysis of a Reflectometry Diagnostics Concept for DEMO

The reflectometry diagnostic for demonstration fusion reactor (DEMO) is envisaged to provide the electron density profile and to be used as a control diagnostic for the real-time vertical position controller. An initial conceptual study has been performed defining the position of the antennas and the routing of the waveguides. In the present design, the integration has been driven by the remote handling and blanket interfaces. To progress with the system integration, neutronics simulations were performed to assess the cooling requirements. This paper presents a nuclear and thermal analysis for the initial design of the reflectometry diagnostic for DEMO. The neutronics simulations were performed using the Monte Carlo simulation program MCNP6 and FENDL 2.1 cross sections, while ANSYS mechanical v18 was used to perform the thermal analysis. Simulation results show that the nuclear heat loads reach 8 W/cm
³
at the surface of the diagnostics section. Without an active cooling system, the operating temperatures of the components under such heat loads would be well above the acceptable from the thermomechanical point of view. The thermal analysis here presented provides the temperature distribution in the components when subjected to neutron/gamma irradiation and thermal radiation from the plasma, after the implementation of a preliminary design of the active cooling system. The operation temperatures of the plasma-facing antennas, as well as the performance of the diagnostics system from the neutron shielding point of view, are analyzed and discussed in this paper.