Experimental set-up for gas balance measurement at JET

• Published in: Vacuum Vol. 41; no. 4; pp. 1515 - 1518
• Main Authors: Usselmann, E., Hemmerich, J.L., Holland, D., Grobusch, L., Schargitz, U., Sartori, R., Saibene, G.
• Format: Journal Article Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Elsevier Ltd 1990; Elsevier
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Controled nuclear fusion plants; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Exact sciences and technology; Installations for energy generation and conversion: thermal and electrical energy; Tokamak; Gases; Nuclear fusion reactor; Wall; Pumping; Gas release; Measurement method; Retention; Balance; Magnetic confinement fusion
• ISSN: 0042-207X; 1879-2715
• DOI: 10.1016/0042-207X(90)94008-E

The JET experiment (using tritium) has to address the problem of tritium retention in the vessel walls. Therefore, gas balance measurements to assess the first wall behaviour with respect to gas retention and gas release during and after tokamak pulses are already made in the deuterium phase of JET. A pumping system parallel to the standard forevacuum system of JET has been installed to pump and store the discharged gas after each plasma shot. Using a timing sequence to operate valves, the normal mechanical forevacuum pumps are disconnected and a special cryogenic pumping set is used to collect the gas discharged by the torus turbomolecular pumps for a given time after each shot. A storage tank takes the collected gas from the cryogenic pump after a period of operation, from where gas samples can be taken for analysis. This paper describes the set-up, the type of the cryopump and also the various modes of operations of the experimental set-up. The results obtained have shown that the torus walls have a very strong retention capability. Depending on wall surfaces and plasma conditions, release reates between 10 and 80% of the injected gas have been measured.