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This paper presents results of conceptual design activities and associated R&D of a solid breeder blanket system for demonstration of power generation fusion reactors (DEMO blanket) cooled by supercritical water. The Fusion Council of Japan developed the long-term research and development programme of the blanket in 1999. To make the fusion DEMO reactor more attractive, a higher thermal efficiency of more than 40% was strongly recommended. To meet this requirement, the design of the DEMO fusion reactor was carried out. In conjunction with the reactor design, a new concept of a solid breeder blanket cooled by supercritical water was proposed and design and technology development of a solid breeder blanket cooled by supercritical water was performed.By thermo-mechanical analyses of the first wall, the tresca stress was evaluated to be 428 MPa, which clears the 3Sm value of F82H. By thermal and nuclear analyses of the breeder layers, it was shown that a net TBR of more than 1.05 can be achieved. By thermal analysis of the supercritical water power plant, it was shown that a thermal efficiency of more than 41% is achievable. The design work included design of the coolant flow pattern for blanket modules, module structure design, thermo-mechanical analysis and neutronics analysis of the blanket module, and analyses of the tritium inventory and permeation. Preliminary integration of the design of a solid breeder blanket cooled by supercritical water was achieved in this study.In parallel with the design activities, engineering R&D was conducted covering all necessary issues, such as development of structural materials, tritium breeding materials, and neutron multiplier materials; neutronics experiments and analyses; and development of the blanket module fabrication technology. Upon developing the fabrication technology for the first wall and box structure, a hot isostatic pressing bonded F82H first wall mock-up with embedded rectangular cooling channels was successfully fabricated. It withstood the high heat flux test at 2.7 MW m−2. Also, a correlation parameter of the Li2TiO3 pebble bed made by the sol–gel method was verified by measurement of the thermal conductivity of the breeder pebble bed, which is one of the most important design data.

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