Definition and selection of instrumentation for auxiliary systems of a nuclear fusion plant

The nuclear fusion is a type of energy source that is very clean and technically limitless. ITER will be the first milestone along the road toward the production of fusion energy. It will be an experimental reactor that will prove the feasibility of technologies and its results will be helpful for the future steps. Among the technologies that will be tested in ITER, a particular interest is referred to the possibility of tritium breeding thus making the fuel for the reaction inexhaustible. The European studies for this type of technology are focused on a system denominated WCLL-TBM. The aim of this thesis is the definition and commercial selection of instrumentation of two of the six ancillary systems that support the WCLL-TBM. Obviously, it is not expected that a complete mapping of the instrumentation will be available at the end of this activity. So, the final output requested by NIER Ingegneria, the company through which the internship activities were carried out, is the collection of all the actions taken to find suitable commercial models. Firstly, a brief analysis is used to describe the ancillary systems considered in which the instruments are located: this is the identification phase. This is followed by the phase where instruments are defined in terms of their required properties. Both standard properties have been considered during the definition of an instrument, as well as those specific to the nuclear application. The instruments are then classified based on defined criteria, grouping instruments with similar properties. In this way a low number of instruments is searched on the market. The selection phase concludes the process: a series of possible suppliers have been identified and contacted to obtain specific models that can be suitable. As final output, a specific check regarding required properties and the ones of the commercial models is performed. At the end, the global view of the results obtained, and the open action are highlighted.