Penetration of deuterium into neutron-irradiated tungsten under plasma exposure

Abstract

Hydrogen isotope trapping at lattice defects in neutron-irradiated tungsten (W), a leading candidate as plasma facing material, is an important problem determining tritium (T) inventory in a vacuum vessel of a future fusion reactor. In this study, W samples were irradiated with neutrons in the Belgium Reactor 2 at 563 K to 0.06 or 0.016 displacement per atom (dpa). After characterizing defects by positron lifetime measurements, deuterium (D) penetration under exposure to D plasma was examined at 563–773 K. Positron lifetime showed the presence of dislocations, monovacancies and relatively large vacancy clusters. These defects trapped D atoms with different values of binding energy. Dependence of D retention on plasma exposure temperature and damage level indicated that the concentrations of weak traps with smaller binding energy increased more significantly with damage level than those of strong traps.