Status of Pb-16Li technologies for European DEMO fusion reactor

•The preliminary Pb15.7Li Loop layout was shown in the paper.•The Magneto Hydro Dynamic effect induced in the flowing Pb-16Li inside BB and the pressure drops generated were analysed.•The developed anti-permeation and corrosion barriers inside the BB where shown.•The code developed to analyse the In-box Loca inside WCLL BB was introduced.•Preliminary integration of Pb-16Li loops inside the tokamak building was shown. Three of the four breeder blanket concepts currently under investigation for the European DEMO Reactor use the eutectic Pb-16Li as breeder material. Those are the Helium Cooled Lithium Lead (HCLL), Water Cooled Lithium Lead (WCLL) and Dual Coolant Lithium Lead (DCLL) blankets. Moreover, the WCLL is one of the blanket concepts that will be qualified in the ITER reactor, therefore the development and design of lead lithium loops and auxiliary systems is essential. The main functional requirements that Pb-16Li systems have to fulfill are: •to circulate the liquid Pb-16Li through the blanket and ancillaries;•to extract the tritium produced inside the breeder modules from Pb-16Li;•to control Pb-16Li chemistry and to remove accumulated impurities; The present work aims to describe the activities performed in order to achieve the following objectives: i) design and integration of the Pb-16Li loops inside the tokamak building, ii) development and characterization of antipermeation and anticorrosion coatings on structures in contact with Pb-16Li, iii) development and design of an activation products removal system, iv) design of a chemistry control system for Pb-16Li loops, v) performing magnetohydrodynamic analyses taking into account the impact on heat transfer and tritium transport in breeding blankets and performing safety analyses of water/Pb-16Li interaction due to LOCA inside the WCLL blanket.