Project Synopsis

Develop a conceptual/preliminary level process design for the cooling water systems associated with the ITER nuclear fusion energy research facility.

Project Summary

ITER ECH COOLING WATER SYSTEMS CONCEPTUAL PROCESS DESIGNS

The client contracted Process Engineering Associates, LLC (PROCESS) to perform conceptual process designs for the ITER Electron Cyclotron Heating and Current Drive (ECH) cooling water systems.  The ITER ECH includes technical components and waveguides in radio frequency (RF) transmission lines at the ITER facility in Cadarache, France.  The RF provides energy to the plasma in the ITER fusion energy research reactor (Tokamak).  A total of twenty-four transmission lines feed five different injection ports.  The cooling of these transmission lines and components is divided into two separate cooling water systems in three buildings.

Specific tasks for this project included:

  • Generation of a design basis that included pressure drop, heat load, flow, velocity requirements, and physical dimensions of cooling passages for the transmission line components, as well as cooling system pressure drop and temperature rise constraints.
  • Development of thermo-hydraulic models of transmission line components using PROCESS‘ licensed commercial computer process simulation software (CHEMCAD) based on the design basis requirements and on transmission line component and waveguide dimensional information.  Individual components were arranged in series to determine the pressure drop and temperature rise along each transmission line.
  • Arrangement of transmission line components into proposed cooling circuits based on the CHEMCAD results for each of the twenty-four RF transmission lines, subject to the pressure drop, flow, and temperature rise constraints placed on the cooling water systems.  These constraints vary from building to building.  Each transmission line required multiple circuits in multiple buildings to accommodate all of the components.  The cooling circuits were arranged to minimize water usage in each building.
  • Provision of recommendations for water chemistry, design, operation, and maintenance requirements to minimize corrosion of the stainless steel and copper technical components and piping systems using high purity water.
  • Preparation of a software validation report for CHEMCAD.
  • Preparation of a design and calculation report describing the calculation methodology, the system components, the proposed cooling circuit configurations and cooling water flow requirements by building and by system, and the cooling water quality requirements.

Industry Type

  • Nuclear Energy Research Facilities

Utilized Skills

  • Utilities systems design
  • Hydraulic and heat transfer modeling
  • Research facility cooling water system process design.

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