TRITIUM RECYCLING AND INVENTORY IN ERODED DEBRIS OF PLASMA-FACING MATERIALS

摘要

Damage to plasma-facing components (PFCs) and structural materials due to loss of plasma confinement in magnetic fusion reactors remains one of the most serious concerns for safe, successful, and reliable tokamak operation. High erosion losses due to surface vaporization, spallation, and melt-layer splashing are expected during such an event. The eroded debris and dust of the PFCs, including trapped tritium, will be contained on the walls or within the reactor chamber; therefore, they can significantly influence plasma behavior and tritium inventory during subsequent operations. Tritium containment and behavior in PFCs and in the dust and debris is an important factor in evaluating and choosing the ideal plasma-facing materials (PFMs). Tritium buildup and release in the debris of candidate materials is influenced by the effect of material porosity on diffusion and retention processes. These processes have strong nonlinear behavior due to temperature, solubility, and existing trap sites. A realistic model must therefore account for the nonlinear and multidimensional effects of tritium diffusion in the porous-redeposited and neutron-irradiated materials. A tritium-transport computer model, TRAPS (TRitium Accumulation in Porous Structure), was developed and used to evaluate and predict the kinetics of tritium transport in porous media. This model is coupled with the TRICS (Tritium In Compound Systems) code that was developed to study the effect of surface erosion during normal and abnormal operations in tritium behavior in PFCs.