An active vacuum general-purpose radiation test facility for assessment of ceramic insulators and diagnostic components

Diagnostic components and heating and current drive systems will be used within the vacuum vessel of the future fusion reactors, and especially in ITER. They will have to withstand harsh conditions in terms of neutron and gamma radiations, temperatures, applied voltages and vacuum. In order to study the degradation phenomena of the insulation and window materials and to qualify prototype systems, a representative environment must be available to perform reliable evaluation tests. A multi-purpose irradiation facility has been therefore designed to fit the BR2 experimental fission reactor in Mol, Belgium. This reloadable facility allows a full control of the irradiation conditions (up to 10 14n cm −2 s −1 and 500 °C) in a vacuum or inert atmosphere, with in-situ bias and measurement capabilities.