Tritium in fusion reactor components

Abstract

This took was prepared as an account of work sponsored by an agency of the United States Government. Neither trie United States Government re' any agency thereof, nor mrf of toeir err£loyees. mikes my «wnniy, express or implied, or assumjs any togal Kebility or responsibility for me accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information, apparatus, product, or process disdosad. or represents that its use would not infringe privately owned rights. Reference herein to any specific commercial product, process, or service by trade name, trademark, manufacturer, or otherwise, does not necessarily constitute or imply its endorsement, recommendation, or favoring by the United States Government or any aosney thereof. Tht viewi and opinions of authors axpreeaed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of the United States Government or any agency thereof. ABSTRACTWhen tritium is used in a fusion energy experiment or reactor, several implications affect and usually restrict the design and operation of the system and involve questions of containment, inventory, and radiation damage. Contaianent is expected to be particularly important both for high-temperature components and for those components that are prone to require frequent maintenance. Inventory is currently of major significance in cases where safety and environmental considerations limit the experiments to very low levels of tritium. Fewer inventory restrictions are expected as fusion experiments are placed in more-remote locations and as the fusion community gains experience with the use of tritium. However, the advent of power-producing experiments with high-duty cycle will again lead to serious difficulties based principally on tritium availability; cyclic operations, with significant regeneration times are the principal problems.