Measurements of tritium retention and removal on TFTR

Abstract

Recent experiments on the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) have afforded an opportunity to measure the retention of tritium in a graphite limiter that is subject to erosion, codeposition and high neutron flux. The tritium was injected by both gas puff and neutral beams. The isotopic mix of hydrogenic recycling was measured spectroscopically and the tritium fraction T/(H+D+T) increased to as high as 75%. Some tritium was pumped out during the experimental run and some removed in a subsequent campaign using various clean-up techniques. While the short term retention of tritium was high, various conditioning techniques were successful in removing = 8,000 Ci and restoring the tritium inventory to a level well below the administrative limit.