The engineering design evolution of IFMIF: From CDR to EDA phase

•Brief description of International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF), its background and scope its Engineering Design and Validation Activities (EVEDA) phase.•Description and justification of the main design evolutions from previous phases; and in particular from the baseline described in the “Comprehensive Design Report” (CDR). The International Fusion Materials Irradiation Facility (IFMIF), presently in its Engineering Design and Engineering Validation Activities (EVEDA) phase, started in 2007 under the framework of the Broader Approach (BA) Agreement between Japanese Government and EURATOM. The mandate assigned was to develop an integrated engineering design of IFMIF together with accompanying sub-projects to validate the major technological challenges that included the construction of either full scale prototypes or cleverly devised scaled down facilities, which are essential to reliably face the construction of IFMIF on schedule and cost. The Engineering Design Activities were accomplished on-schedule with the release of its “Intermediate Engineering Design Report (IIEDR)” in June 2013 compliant with our mandate. This paper highlights the design improvements implemented from the previous Conceptual Design Phase.