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2026 Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
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What’s the most difficult question you’ve been asked as a maintenance instructor?
Blye Widmar
"Where are the prints?!"
This was the final question in an onslaught of verbal feedback, comments, and critiques I received from my students back in 2019. I had two years of instructor experience and was teaching a class that had been meticulously rehearsed in preparation for an accreditation visit. I knew the training material well and transferred that knowledge effectively enough for all the students to pass the class. As we wrapped up, I asked the students how they felt about my first big system-level class, and they did not hold back.
“Why was the exam from memory when we don’t work from memory in the plant?” “Why didn’t we refer to the vendor documents?” “Why didn’t we practice more on the mock-up?” And so on.
Yue Xu, Xiaoping Tian, Hongyan Tan, Haiying Fu, Zheng Gong, Junjie Ni, Laima Luo
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 81 | Number 4 | May 2025 | Pages 321-330
Regular Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/15361055.2024.2397220
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
In steady-state operation of fusion reactors, eroded materials and contaminations, especially carbon (C), may deposit on the surface of plasma-facing components. In this work, the effects of C deposition on hydrogen isotope permeation behavior through tungsten (W)–coated reduced activation ferritic/martensitic (RAFM) steel were systematically investigated by plasma-driven permeation (PDP) measurements in the temperature range of 633 to 893 K. A C deposition layer with thickness of ~200 nm was prepared by magnetron sputtering to simulate the formation of C impurities in the first-wall area of tokamaks. The implantation depth of incident deuterium (D) ions was estimated to be <10 nm at incident energy of 114 eV. Deuterium effective diffusion coefficients (Deff’s) for W-coated RAFM steel with/without a C layer were obtained. It was found that the C layer tended to increase Deff in the low-temperature region of ~675 to 820 K. At high temperature, however, Deff was measured be lower than that without a C layer. Nevertheless, the addition of a C layer had no significant effect on Deff compared to the W coating alone with respect to bare RAFM steels. For steady-state D-PDP flux, it was found that the C layer significantly decreased D permeation flux at low temperature. But, the permeation flux difference between the samples with/without a C layer became smaller with increasing temperature, indicating that the influence of C deposition on D permeation was negligible at high temperature. Similar D-PDP behavior was detected as increasing the incident ion flux by means of increasing plasma discharge power. Surface reemission of absorbed D as well as the D concentration gradient throughout the sample was found to be influenced by C deposition; therefore, D permeation flux changed correspondingly.