Thermal-hydraulic Analysis of the Regular Equatorial Port Cooling System for the CFETR Vacuum Vessel Mock-up

To validate the key engineering technologies of China Fusion Engineering Test Reactor （CFETR）, the Institute of Plasma Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences is conducting physics and engineering design of the CFETR vacuum vessel mock-up. The vacuum vessel is a major toroidal nuclear safety component closest to the plasma core in a magnetic confinement fusion device. It provides a high-quality vacuum environment for stable high-temperature plasma operation and serves as the primary safety barrier. This paper presents a thermal-hydraulic numerical simulation of the regular equatorial port cooling system for the CFETR vacuum vessel mock-up. Based on the nuclear heat distribution of the vacuum vessel system, a thermal-hydraulic calculation model was established to simulate and evaluate the cooling performance of the regular equatorial port cooling system under the 200 MW long-pulse and 1.5 GW short-pulse operating conditions. The results indicate that under the 200 MW condition, the average heat transfer coefficient of the regular equatorial port extension is 2700 W/（m²·K） and the minimum heat transfer coefficient is 877 W/（m²·K）, meeting the water-cooling operational requirement for the regular equatorial port extension. The maximum temperature of the regular equatorial port extension is 105.4 °C, with an average temperature of 101.5 °C, satisfying the operational requirement of 100±10 °C. The temperature rise per 1.5 GW short-pulse operation is approximately 0.05 °C, which is virtually negligible. This study has validated the cooling performance of the proposed regular equatorial port cooling system and the effectiveness of its design methodology, providing critical data and a methodological reference for the design and optimization of the CFETR vacuum vessel regular equatorial port cooling system.