ITER is a large scale fusion device designed to study the high temperature fusion reaction between tritium and deuterium. The success of a tokamak-type fusion reactor will depend to a great extent on developing reliable and safe methods of carrying out routine maintenance and repairs remotely. Remote Handling System (RHS) is used to perform remotely the maintenance inside the vacuum vessel. RHS will be contaminated during exposure inside ITER Vacuum Vessel with activated dust, tritium and beryllium. RHS will be transported to the Hot Cell Facility to be remotely decontaminated before its hands-on maintenance operation. RHS maintenance is made of repair, changing parts, testing and re-commissioning activities. In this paper the results of concept design engineering investigation of the routine remote maintenance and repair is developed. Maintenance requirements for a nuclear fusion facility are rather similar to those of JET (David etal. 2005 [1]), but magnified (Lasser etal., 2012 [2]; Loughlin et al., [3]). A dedicated facility of a unique scale is planned to support ITER remote maintenance activities. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

To achieve the overall ITER machine availability target, the availability of diagnostics and heating port plugs shall be as high as 99.5%. To fulfill this requirement, it is mandatory to test the port plugs at operating temperature before installation on the machine and after refurbishment.The ITER port plug test facility (PPTF) is composed of several test stands that can be used to test the port plugs whereas at the end of manufacturing (in a non-nuclear environment), or after refurbishment in the ITER hot cell facility. The PPTF provides the possibility to perform environmental (leak tightness, vacuum and thermo-hydraulic performances) and functional tests (radio frequency acceptance tests, behavior of the plugs' steering mechanism and calibration of diagnostics) on upper and equatorial port plugs.The final design of the port plug test facility is described. The configuration of the standalone test stands and the integration" in the hot cell facility are presented. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

ITER will produce radioactive waste during its operation (arising from the replacement of components and from process and housekeeping waste) and during decommissioning. The waste concerns components that are activated by neutrons of energies up to 14MeV, and are contaminated by activated corrosion products, activated dust and tritium. Even if the nuclear waste production will start only with the deuterium-deuterium phase, provisions have to be taken now with the design of the ITER facilities that will be used for the treatment and interim storage of the waste, in order to demonstrate that all the ITER waste will be safely manageable with the existing outlets. This demonstration also needs to be provided to the French regulator.

Internal components of the ITER Tokamak are replaced and transferred to the Hot Cell by remote handling equipment. These components include port plugs, cryopumps, divertor cassettes, blanket modules, etc. They are brought to the refurbishment area of the ITER Hot Cell Building for cleaning and maintenance, using remote handling techniques. The ITER refurbishment area will be unique in the world, when considering combination of size, quantity of complex component to refurbish in presence of radiation, activated dust and tritium. The refurbishment process to integrate covers a number of workstations to perform specific remote operations fully covered by a mast on crane system. This paper describes the integration of the Refurbishment Area, explaining the functions, the methodology followed, some illustrations of trade-off and safety improvements. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier B.V.

The paper describes the organization of the Test Blanket Module (TBM) program, its overall objective and schedule and the status of the technical activities within the ITER Organization-Central Team (IO-CT). The latter include the design integration of the Test Blanket Systems (TBSs) into the nuclear buildings, ensuring all interfaces with other ITER systems, the design of the common TBS components such as the TBM Frames, the Dummy TBMs, and the TBS maintenance tools and equipment in the TBM Port Cell as well as in the Hot Cell building, the design of the TBS connection pipes and the definition of the required maintenance operations and associated R&D. The paper also discusses the major challenges that the TBM Program will be facing in ITER such as the potential impact of the TBMs ferritic/martensitic structures on plasma operations, the approaches to tritium and contamination confinement, the required mitigation and recovery actions in case of accidents, and the assessment of the reliability aspects that could have an impact on ITER availability.

To date the calculation of the applied heat load in flash pasteurization plants in terms of Pasteurization Units (PUs) implies several inaccuracies. In this study, the residence time distribution (RTD), which is neglected in practice, was analyzed. Commonly for the determination of PUs the theoretical mean value of the residence time is used. This research investigates, exemplary in a pilot plant, the influence of the RTD on the resulting reduction of the cell count. RTDs were measured with model liquids for beverages (low viscosity) at different flow velocities and for syrups and beverage compounds (high viscosity). The data were used to estimate the microbial inactivation effect by calculations, considering the microbial inactivation kinetics following a first order reaction. For comparison also the survival kinetics were calculated from the mean holding time as result of the residence time distribution. A change in the flow rate, while still ensuring turbulence, leads to a decrease of the count reduction by up to 1.4 orders of magnitudes induced by the RTD. For laminar flows, due to high viscosities, a reduction of 5 orders of magnitudes was obtained, corresponding to a PU reduction of 20 % assuming a D (60 degrees C) - value of 1 min. In practice, safety margins in the PU parameterization can now better be adjusted with the knowledge about the RTD impact. The PUs can be individually adapted to the plant and to the product resulting in a safer and a more gentle processing combined with possible energy savings. Thus, the RTD provides a relevant mean for the practice of pasteurization in the case of low Re numbers and small D-values. The impact of RTD is hence not generally negligible.

The ITER diagnostics generic upper port plug (GUPP) is developed as a standardized design for all diagnostic upper port plugs, in which a variety of payloads can be mounted. Here, the remote handling compatibility analysis (RHCA) of the GUPP design is presented that was performed for the GUPP final design review. The analysis focuses mainly on the insertion and extraction procedure of the diagnostic shield module (DSM), a removable cassette that contains the diagnostic in-vessel components. It is foreseen that the DSM is a replaceable component - the procedure of which is to be performed inside the ITER hot cell facility (HCF), where the GUPP can be oriented in a vertical position. The DSM removal procedure in the HCF consists of removing locking pins, an M30 sized shoulder bolt and two electrical straps through the use of a dexterous manipulator, after which the DSM is lifted out of the GUPP by an overhead crane. For optimum access to its internals, the DSM is mounted in a handling device. The insertion of a new or refurbished DSM follows the reverse procedure. The RHCA shows that the GUPP design requires a moderate amount of changes to become fully compatible with RH maintenance requirements. (c) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

In the practice of flash pasteurization, the applied heat load is not exactly known. It is rather estimated by measuring the holding tube outlet temperature and the flow rate (theoretical mean holding time). Microbiological methods, such as the Count Reduction Test (CRT), include certain disadvantages and basic unavoidable inaccuracies. A chemical reaction, the acidic sucrose hydrolysis, was investigated as a Time-Temperature Integrator (TTI) for the determination of the heat load expressed as Pasteurization Units (PU). For this purpose, the reaction was already calibrated as reported in a prior article [1]. Here the application and verification in terms of a comparative plausibility test of the TTI in a semi-technical scale are presented. For the TTI test, the conversion rate of the reaction had to be adjusted with a sufficient acid concentration, which can be calculated with the help of the previous calibration. The acidic sucrose solution is pasteurized under realistic conditions. The conversion ratio is mathematically transposed into a statistical figure, the effective temperature (theta(TTI)). The effective PU can then be derived from the theta(TTI) and the residence time. This TTI test was performed at four different temperature levels using three different target residence times, 5-fold respectively. The resulting effective temperatures were compared with the measurements of thermocouples (inlet and outlet of the holding tube). The results indicate that the TTI provides plausible results. In the following step, the TTI was compared with a microbiological Count Reduction Test. Lactobacillus hilgardii was chosen as the test microorganism, therefore, thermal death kinetics of L. hilgardii were determined in terms of the D-60 degrees C-value of 0.75 min and a z-value of 5.4 degrees C. Both methods, the TTI and the CRT, were performed under the same process conditions. The comparison with the measurements of the temperature probes in the holding tube revealed a significant higher reliability of the TTI test.

The external walls of the Tokamak building, made of thick concrete, provide the nuclear shielding for operators working in adjacent buildings and for the environment. There are a series of openings to these external walls, devoted to ducts or pipes for ventilation, waveguides and transmission lines for heating systems and diagnostics, cooling pipes, cable trays or busbars. The shielding properties of the wall shall be preserved by adequate design of the openings in order not to affect the radiological zoning in adjacent areas. For some of them, shielding properties of the wall are not affected because the size of the network is quite small or the source is far from the opening. But for most of the openings, specific features shall be considered. Even if the approach is the same and the ways to shield can be standardized, specific analysis is requested in any case because the constraints are different. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Medicinal drugs often have higher microbial contamination than regulatory stipulations allow. The germ reduction is usually achieved by heat destruction, which is implemented in various saturated steam processes. The present study was carried out according to the so-called Lemgo process, a saturated steam process in which not only a thermal germ reduction but rather a substantial detachment of the microorganisms can be realized. While in earlier studies treatments have been carried out in a 1-L-chamber, here a semi-industrial scale was examined. Five medicinal drugs (nasturtium, marjoram, flax seed, fennel and onion) were decontaminated in a 5-L-ploughshare mixer. Saturated steam at 110 and 125 degrees C for 20 s or two times 20 s was applied. Spores on all drugs could be reduced for at least two powers of ten, mostly to less than 10(2) colony-forming units (CFU)/g (detection limit). This applied also to drugs with problematic surfaces such as flax seed (polysaccharides on the surface) or onions (many cut cells). Molds, if any, were also reduced below the detection limit. To avoid recapture effects in large scale facilities it was necessary to use a moving bed. Necessary particle retention was ensured by an additional sieve. With the Lemgo process for mechanical saturated steam decontamination, a gentle and efficient method for the reduction of spores and vegetative microorganisms on many medicinal drugs is available.

Extensive diagnostics systems will be installed on the ITER machine to provide the measurements necessary to control, evaluate and optimize plasma performance in ITER and to further the understanding of plasma physics. These include measurements of temperature, density, impurity concentration, and particle and energy confinement times. ITER diagnostic systems extend from the center of the Tokamak to the various diagnostic areas, where they are controlled and acquired data is processed. This mainly includes the areas such as ports, port cells, gallery, diagnostics enclosures and cubicle areas. The diagnostics port plugs encloses the front end of the diagnostic systems and the diagnostics building houses the diagnostics equipment, instrumentation and control cubicles. There are several systems providing services to diagnostics. These mainly include ITER buildings, electrical power services, cooling water services, Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC), vacuum services, liquid and gas distribution services, cable engineering, de-tritiation systems, control cubicles, etc. Requirements of these service systems have to be defined, even though many of the diagnostics are at an early stage of development. It is a real challenge to define and to design diagnostics systems considering the constraints imposed by these service systems. This paper summarizes the provision of these services to the individual diagnostics and diagnostics areas as well as the total requirements to a significant level of definition. It demonstrates the impact of this as a design restraint and requirement on both the diagnostics and the service systems as they are further specified, designed and procured. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The novel saturated steam decontamination method called Lemgo process is based on a short steam treatment, followed by an extremely rapid evacuation of the treatment chamber. This results in the reduction of the bonding forces between the microorganisms and the surface and in a sudden evaporation of the condensate film on the herbal material, and therefore in a mechanical removal of the superficial microorganisms. 2 L of drugs were treated in a ploughshare stirrer for 20 s with saturated steam of 110 degrees C and 125 degrees C, respectively, followed by the evacuation of the stirrer. A double treatment, consisting of a twofold vaporization and evacuation, was examined as well. The process was able to reduce the total plate count and aerobic spore count of the five investigated herbal drugs Linum usitatissimum L. (linseed), Foeniculum vulgare Mill. (fennel), Origanum majorana L. (marjoram), Tropaeolum majus L. (nasturtium) and Allium cepa L. (onion) by up to 4 powers of magnitude, reaching the microbiological detection limit of 100 CFU/g. The steam and vacuum treatments of linseed caused neither a loss of its value-adding ingredient crude fat nor a change of colour. Furthermore, the swelling index and flavour of linseed, determined for assessing the quality, showed no significant changes. In the case of fennel, only 7% of the essential oil was lost, and the treated herbal material did not show remarkable differences in appearance. Marjoram was the only material with a high loss of ingredients (at least 86% of the essential oil). Glucotropaeoline and cysteine sulfoxide as value-added ingredients of nasturtium and onion are usually prone to fast enzymatic degradation. However, due to the decontamination treatment and probably the short heat treatment, there was only a loss of 16% glucotropaeoline and 18% cysteine sulfoxide. Changes in colour of nasturtium were moderate but onion suffers a noticeable embrowning.

Processes for the thermal preservation of beverages in heat exchangers demand for validation methods, especially as performance qualification of a new plant. Particularly in the combination with aseptic filling systems reliable and precise tests are important. A chemical Time-Temperature Integrator (TTI) is expected to measure more accurate, cheaper and faster than conventional microbiological count reduction tests. The acidic hydrolysis of sucrose was investigated as a TTI. For the practical application the calibration of the chemical reaction is necessary in order to find the suitable parameters in terms of the acid and sucrose concentration. For the calibration of the TTI two methods were tested, the isothermal (two steps) and the non-isothermal (one-step) method. The latter revealed as more precise, thus it was used to explore the required kinetic parameters of the reaction. To cover the temperature range from 50 to 78 degrees C, exemplary for the application of beer pasteurization a sugar concentration of 5 % and acid concentrations between 0.02 and 0.75 mol/L were used. With respect to products with high viscosities such as beverage concentrates a 52 % sugar syrup was used. Here the reaction is faster than with 5 % sugar. According to earlier findings the activation energies of 105.09 +/- 1.07 kJ/mol (5 %) and 113.56 +/- 0.83 kJ/mol (52 % sucrose) respectively were found. Of deciding importance for the application as TTI is the precise determination of the frequency factor k(0) in dependency on the acid concentration. In case of both sugar concentrations a quasi-linear equation describes this correlation with high precision (R-2 >= 0.998). Herewith earlier indistinct publications could be clarified. With the activation energy and the frequency factor the reaction rate can adjusted by changing the H+ concentration to different pasteurization intensities as appearing in practice. Because the activation energy of the thermal death of microorganisms is known to be about twice as high as of the TTI only largely, isothermal reactions can be converted in a direct manner. In non-isothermal cases the TTI slightly underestimates the death rate of microorganisms. The transfer of these findings into the practical scale and their verification shall be the subject of upcoming work.

To achieve the overall ITER machine availability target, the availability of diagnostics and heating port plugs shall be as high as 99.5%. To fulfill these requirements, it is mandatory to test the port plugs at operating temperature before installation on the machine and after refurbishment.The ITER port plug test facility (PFTF) provides the possibility to test upper and equatorial port plugs before installation on the machine. The port plug test facility is composed of several test stands. These test stands are first used in the domestic agencies and on the ITER Organization site to test the port plugs at the end of manufacturing. Two of these stands are installed later in the ITER hot cell facility to test the port plugs after refurbishment. The port plugs to be tested are the Ion Cyclotron (IC) heating and current drive antennas, Electron Cyclotron (EC) heating and current drive launchers, diagnostics and test blanket modules port plugs.Test stands shall be capable to perform environmental and functional tests. The test stands are composed of one vacuum tank (3.3 m in diameter, 5.6 m long) and the associated heating, vacuum and control systems. The vacuum tank shall achieve an ultimate pressure of 1 x 10(-5) Pa at 100 degrees C containing a port plug. The heating system shall provide water at 240 degrees C and 4.4 MPa to heat up the port plugs. Openings are provided on the back of the vacuum tank to insert probes for the functional tests.This paper describes the tests to be performed on the port plugs and the conceptual design of the port plug test facility. The configuration of the standalone test stands and the integration in the hot cell facility are presented. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Saturated steam decontamination is an application for elimination of microorganisms from the surface of different materials. This technique has been optimized for the treatment of dried spices or pharmaceuticals, which could have been contaminated with microorganisms during cultivation, processing, storage or transport. The described saturated steam decontamination is based on the Lemgo process. This method does not kill microorganisms, but removes them physically from the surface. Our investigation focused on measuring the effects of steam temperatures at 120 °C and 100 °C, respectively, for 20 s with a subsequent fl ash vacuum of 20 s. Applications of fl ash vacuum as well as saturated steam heated to 120 °C were also tested separately. The impact of these parameters on the essential oil content and on the surface of different medicinal plants such as marjoram, oregano, fennel and eucalyptus was analysed using gas chromatography and scanning electron microscopy. Especially in herbal drugs with glandular trichomes such as marjoram and oregano severe surface destruction was visible accompanied by high losses of essential oil from 93 % in marjoram tissue to 59 % in oregano tissue. For fennel and eucalyptus that possess protected essential oil storage cells only minor or no reduction of volatiles has been observed during exposure to saturated steam. The experiments show clearly a positive correlation between stability of essential oil cavities and essential oil content preservation.