Hydrogen permeability in stainless steel interacting with TM-4 tokamak plasma

This paper provides data by direct measurement of the deuterium flux penetrating a membrane made of Kh18N9T stainless steel when acted on by the TM-4 tokamak plasma. An instrument is illustrated that was used to measure the direct penetration of hydrogen isotopes through the stainless steel. The experiments with the TM-4 and the data presented indicate relatively high hydrogen permeability for austenitic stainless steel interacting with particles of energy over 10 eV and also that the permeability is very dependent on the surface state. The experiments also show that future fusion reactors with design particle fluxes and energies at the first wall of about 1016 cm-2. sec-1 and about 100 eV will have fuel permeability that can be brought to acceptable levels from the safety viewpoint quite rapidly