A cooling system arrangement is presented which is specifically designed for high heat flux water cooled divertors. The motivation behind the proposed “unichannel” configuration is to provide maximum safety; this design eliminates flow instabilities liable to occur in parallel channel designs, it eliminates total blockage, it promotes cross flow to counteract the effects of partial blockage and/or local hot spots, and it is much more tolerant to the effects of debonding between the beryllium armor and the copper substrate. Added degrees of freedom allow optimization of the design, including the possibility of operating at very high heat transfer coefficients associated with nucleate boiling, while at the same time providing ample margin against departure from nucleate boiling. Projected pressure drop, pumping power, and maximum operating temperatures are lower than for conventional parallel channel designs.