Hydrogen isotope exchange and conditioning in graphite limiters used in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor

Abstract

Isotopic exchange experiments performed in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) are used to examine the outgassing and diffusive properties of graphite used as the plasma limiter. Changeover from hydrogen to deuterium for different periods ranges from ∼600 to 60 plasma discharges, which appears to be correlated in the limiter temperature. We present a simple analytical model that predicts a fast transient (∼10 plasma discharges) changeover, where the deuterium fueling dilutes the adsorbed and near surface hydrogen, and a slowly changing term where bulk hydrogen diffuses to the surface. Using this model we can extract an activation energy for diffusion of 0.15±0.02 eV. We hypothesize that interpore diffusion for this porous (∼15%) material is consistent with our observations.