Remote leak detection for the TFTR

The planned design for the TFTR (TOKAMAK Fusion Test Reactor) remote leak detection system consists of a central console which controls the application of tracer gas to possible leak areas. Seals are tested by admitting tracer gas to machined cavities on the atmospheric side of the seal. The tracer gas is brought to the seal cavity by 1/8-inch diameter tubes which connect to local tracer gas/vacuum manifolds located outside the protective radiation shielding. Vacuum shell walls and welds are checked by flowing tracer gas through annular heating/cooling passages. The detector will be either an MSLD (mass spectrometer leak detector) or an RGA (residual gas analyzer), the location of which is not finalized. Feasibility tests performed and planned include response and sensitivity measurements of possible tubing/detector configurations with several tracer gases