Forefront of liquid metal technologies for fusion reactors

Abstract

Abstract Fusion reactor is an innovative power plant, which is necessary for a sustainable society. The important issue is the development of key components, i.e. tritium breeding blanket and divertor. Liquid metal Li and Pb-16Li are candidate tritium breeders, which also function as a reactor coolant. Liquid Sn is a promising coolant of liquid surface divertor, which is responsible for power exhaust and impurity removal through guided plasma exhaust in magnetic plasma confinement fusion reactors. The design studies on the liquid breeder blanket and the liquid surface divertor are being conducted toward fusion DEMO reactor. The chemical behaviours of liquid metals have been studied to improve the tritium transfer and the material compatibility. This paper reviews recent studies on the liquid metal technologies for the fusion reactors.