Design of the ITER shielding blanket

The shielding system of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) removes the surface heat flux from the plasma and from bulk heating by the neutrons and reduces the activity in the vacuum vessel (VV) structural material to allowable levels to ensure vessel reweldability for the fluence goal. It also helps protect the superconducting coils and ex-vessel components from excessive nuclear heating and radiation damage. The blanket system helps, with its eddy currents, to passively stabilize the plasma motion. It minimizes the electromagnetic load to the VV due to plasma disruptions, and provides a well defined load path to the VV for net vertical and horizontal loads arising from vertical displacement events.