Design of a tritium-compatible vacuum pumping system for the Compact Ignition Tokamak

The conceptual design for the Compact Ignition Tokamak (CIT) vacuum pumping system features high-speed, magnetic-bearing turbomolecular pumps (TMPs), metal-sealed scroll pumps for roughing and backing, and all-metal valves and flange seals. Because the plasma chamber exhaust is handled in a throughput instead of hold-up fashion with no organic seal or lubricating materials exposed to the vacuum stream, inventories of tritium, which are vulnerable to release during an accident and which inhibit maintenance of the vacuum pumping equipment are minimized. To achieve an initial base pressure of 1.3 x 10-6 Pa in the plasma chamber, the design includes a large vacuum pumping duct and multiple high-speed TMPs arranged in two stages. The design studies discussed in this paper examine the feasibility and cost impact of providing a low-tritium-inventory, easily maintained vacuum pumping system for a deuterium-tritium (D-T) burning tokamak