In the framework of the 28th European Advanced Material Congress (AEMC28), a dissemination activity was carried out on the conceptual design of the SOLEAD Demonstrator facility (WP2.1 of the NEXTOWER Project). An Oral presentation of about half an hour was done, while the paper will be published in a special issue of an international peer review Journal connected to the conference.

The main results of the conceptual design activity were described with the main steps towards the design of the main components of the Demonstrator, i.e. the primary and secondary heat exchangers and the overall layout of the facility. The P&ID of the facility was shown and described and the use of CFD and STH codes for the design of the main components was underlined. In particular the main design steps with a detailed modelling of the heat exchangers to find the design flow rate of primary and secondary flow path were described. The general layout of the storage and the main vessels was shown with the calculations needed for a proper design of the vessels and the material choice rationales. The DACS and the OCS system were also briefly described to evidence the overall effort made by the conceptual design group. Conclusions evidenced that the final design was the result of a team work with several competences inside: CFD, STH, design rules, DACS, materials, OCS. The conceptual design is a fundamental step towards the full engineering design of the facility which is under responsibility of CALEF.