Breakthrough in my country's First-Wall Technology: First to Complete Tungsten-Copper Joint Qualification for the ITER Project

my country recently achieved another technical breakthrough in the ITER "enhanced heat-load" first-wall project: independently developed tungsten first-wall "finger" components successfully passed 15,000 and 3,000 cycles of thermal fatigue testing under heat loads of 4.7 MW/m² and 5.9 MW/m², respectively. These results have received high recognition from the ITER Organization, marking my country as the first to complete the certification of core process technologies for the ITER tungsten first wall and laying the technical foundation for mass production.

The first wall is a critical component of the ITER device that directly faces the fusion plasma. It must withstand a peak heat flux of 4.7 MW/m²—3,500 times the intensity of solar heat flux near Earth. This project is one of the 18 ITER procurement packages undertaken by my country, with the Southwestern Institute of Physics (SWIP) responsible for the component's development. In 2023, my country became the first to develop a full-scale prototype of the ITER enhanced heat-load first wall using high-purity beryllium as the plasma-facing material; this prototype was accepted by the ITER Organization. In 2024, as tungsten replaced beryllium as the plasma-facing material for the ITER first wall, my country simultaneously initiated the research, development, and certification of key manufacturing technologies for the tungsten first wall.

my country's independently developed tungsten first-wall "finger" component for the ITER enhanced heat-load configuration.