RAMI assessment for IFMIF lithium facility

•RAMI (reliability, availability, maintainability and inspectability) assessment for IFMIF.•FMECA for IFMIF lithium facility.•Reliability block diagram (RBD) analysis for IFMIF Target Facility.•Data from the ENEA fusion component failure rate database (FCFRDB). A RAMI (reliability, availability, maintainability and inspectability) assessment performed on the IFMIF (International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility) Lithium Facility (LF) is presented. Given the high availability requirements for the IFMIF plant, a target requirement of 94% availability has been attributed to the LF and its feasibility verified for the proposed system design. The LF performance for the foreseen operation mission has been investigated by the mean of failure mode, effect and criticality analysis (FMECA) and reliability block diagrams (RBDs). The first assessment performed on the base of the present design did not satisfy the above target requirement. Then, possible optimizations in design solutions and maintenance policy have been investigated. The RBD analysis shows that with some improvements the LF could be able to comply with the availability target requested, as the obtained mean availability for 10 years of simulation is of 93.4% and the inherent availability more than 99%. The reliability to operate the LF without failure during the yearly scheduled operation time is about 64%. Most critical components in terms of impact on LF reliability and availability, are: (i) the Li loop Target Section (back plate) and electro-magnetic pumps for the main loop, (ii) the getter beds of the hydrogen hot trap and the electromagnetic pump for the impurity control system.