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Fusion energy: Progress, partnerships, and the path to deployment
Over the past decade, fusion energy has moved decisively from scientific aspiration toward a credible pathway to a new energy technology. Thanks to long-term federal support, we have significantly advanced our fundamental understanding of plasma physics—the behavior of the superheated gases at the heart of fusion devices. This knowledge will enable the creation and control of fusion fuel under conditions required for future power plants. Our progress is exemplified by breakthroughs at the National Ignition Facility and the Joint European Torus.
A. Widdowson et al.
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 54 | Number 1 | July 2008 | Pages 51-54
Technical Paper | Iter and Fusion | doi.org/10.13182/FST08-A1763
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The retention of tritium (T) by carbon based deposits on tokamak surfaces is of increasing concern to the fusion community as the scale of tritium retention by this mechanism could be a limiting factor for the operation of fusion reactors, such as ITER. Hence there is a need to investigate ways of mitigating T retention and also for detritiating surfaces by either desorption of T or removal of tritiated deposits. The results of the removal of codeposits from CFC tiles by pulsed laser ablation are reported here. The results show that it is possible to completely remove a 300m thick hydrogen isotope rich carbon film at a rate of 12x10-3m2/hr by this method and that with optimisation of the laser parameters there is scope to improve the treatment rates to provide a useful tool for managing T inventory in tokamaks.