Status of Scoping Nuclear Analyses for the Evolving Design of ITER TBM Port Cells

ITER is an international collaborative effort towards the realization of fusion energy via the magnetic confinement concept. Two of the equatorial ports in the facility are dedicated to the testing of tritium breeding concepts, which is essential for the tritium self-sufficiency of future fusion reactors. The concerned Test Blanket System (TBS) consists of a Test Blanket Module (TBM) residing inside the TBM–Port Plug (TBM-PP) and its associated ancillary systems in the Tokamak facility. In this paper, the results of a full suite of nuclear analyses concerning the shielding performance of the Pipe Forest (PF) and Bioshield Plug (BP), to reflect on the evolution of their designs, are discussed. On the BP side, the design of the peripheral part has been reviewed considering the ventilation openings and butterfly doors, to assure the design compliance with the Radiation Map (RadMap) requirements for the neutron flux in the Port Cell (PC), behind the BP. On the PF side, the pipes routing and maintenance corridor door have been redesigned, by taking into account results from previously concluded nuclear analyses. The neutronics model was developed from CAD and was used to perform transport simulations in two plasma modes: on and off. For plasma-on mode, the plasma neutron field in the Port Interspace (PI) as well as behind the BP was assessed and few shielding options were explored. The responses due to decay neutrons from ¹⁷N in activated cooling water were also considered. For the plasma-off mode, the focus was shifted to further refine the ShutDown Dose Rate (SDDR) maps, which is of importance for maintenance operations that are foreseen to take place at various stages of ITER operation, in particular following the FPO-1, FPO-2, and Short operation scenarios. In addition, detailed activation analyses were carried out to provide a provisional waste classification.