A comparison of hydrogen vs. helium glow discharge effects on fusion device first-wall conditioning

Conference · Mon Feb 05 04:00:00 EST 1990 · AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (USA)

OSTI ID:6702368

Dylla, H F ^[1]

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1. Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08543 (USA)

Hydrogen- and deuterium-fueled glow discharges are used for the initial conditioning of magnetic fusion device vacuum vessels following evacuation from atmospheric pressure. Hydrogenic glow discharge conditioning (GDC) significantly reduces the near-surface concentration of simple adsorbates such as H{sub 2}O, CO, and CH{sub 4}, and lowers ion-induced desorption coefficients by typically three orders of magnitude. The time evolution of the residual gas production observed during hydrogen-glow discharge conditioning of the carbon first-wall structure of the TFTR device is similar to the time evolution observed during hydrogen GDC of the initial first-wall configuration in TFTR, which was primarily stainless steel. Recently, helium GDC has been investigated for several wall-conditioning tasks on a number of tokamaks including TFTR. Helium GDC shows negligible impurity removal with stainless steel walls. For impurity conditioning with carbon walls, helium GDC shows significant desorption of H{sub 2}O, CO, and CO{sub 2}; however, the total desorption yield is limited to the monolayer range. In addition, helium GDC can be used to displace hydrogen isotopes from the near-surface region of carbon first-walls in order to lower hydrogenic retention and recycling.

• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH03073
• OSTI ID: 6702368
• Report Number(s): CONF-8904230--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: AIP Conference Proceedings (American Institute of Physics); (USA) Journal Volume: 199:1
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700201* -- Fusion Power Plant Technology-- Blanket Engineering
ALLOYS
CARBON
CLEANING
DESORPTION
DEUTERIUM
ELECTRIC DISCHARGES
ELEMENTS
FIRST WALL
GLOW DISCHARGES
HIGH ALLOY STEELS
HYDROGEN
HYDROGEN ISOTOPES
IRON ALLOYS
IRON BASE ALLOYS
ISOTOPES
LIGHT NUCLEI
NONMETALS
NUCLEI
ODD-ODD NUCLEI
STABLE ISOTOPES
STAINLESS STEELS
STEELS
SURFACE CLEANING
SURFACE FINISHING
TFTR TOKAMAK
THERMONUCLEAR REACTOR WALLS
THERMONUCLEAR REACTORS
TOKAMAK TYPE REACTORS
VACUUM SYSTEMS