Tritium retention in tungsten exposed to intense fluxes of 100 eV tritons

Tungsten is a candidate material for ITER as well as other future magnetic fusion energy devices. Tungsten is well suited for certain fusion applications in that it has a high threshold for sputtering as well as a very high melting point. As with all materials to be used on the inside of a tokamak or similar device, there is a need to know the behavior of hydrogen isotopes embedded in the material. With this need in mind, the Tritium Plasma Experiment (TPE) has been used to examine the retention of tritium in tungsten exposed to very high fluxes of 100 eV tritons. Both tungsten and tungsten containing 1% lanthanum oxide were used in these experiments. Measurements were performed over the temperature range of 423 to 973 K. After exposure to the tritium plasma, the samples were transferred to an outgassing system containing an ionization chamber for detection of the released tritium. The samples were outgassed using linear ramps from room temperature up to 1,473 K. Unlike most other materials exposed to energetic tritium, the tritium retention in tungsten reaches a maximum at intermediate temperatures with low retention at both high and low temperatures. For the very high triton fluences used (>1025 T/m2), the fractional retention of the tritium was below 0.02% of the incident particles. This report presents not only the results of the tritium retention, but also includes the modeling of the results and the implication for ITER and other future fusion devices where tungsten is used