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Influence of mixed material layer formation on hydrogen isotope retention in W exposed to 2014 Large Helical Device (LHD) experiment campaign was evaluated by Thermal Desorption Spectroscopy (TDS), X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM). It was found that a lot of hydrogen isotopes were trapped by the carbon-dominated mixed-material layer deposited on the plasma facing materials. Most of He was also trapped in the carbon-dominated mixed-material layer and the corresponding desorption temperature was limited to be about 600 K, 900 K and 1200 K, respectively. However, the hydrogen retention behavior for erosion dominated area was clearly different from those for deposition dominated area and typical Plasma Wall Interaction (PWI) area, where He bubbles were introduced near the sample surface, leading to the introduction of various types of trapping sites in W.

Pure tungsten (W) samples were respectively installed on the two positions of typical plasma wall interaction area (PI) and erosion dominated position (ER) on the first wall in the Large Helical Device (LHD) at National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS), Japan. After the experiment campaign in 2014, these samples were picked up and thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) were applied to evaluate their desorption behavior of He which was implanted by He discharge. It was found that a carbon-dominated mixed-material layer with impurities, such as Fe, Cr, Mo, O and N, etc., was deposited layer by layer during the plasma exposure on the PI sample. On the other hand, W-C mixed layer was formed on the ER sample. The results showed that a large amount of He was trapped in the samples on both PI and ER, and the total He retention for ER is about twice as large as that of PI. He was trapped in various types of trapping sites in the ER sample and their desorption peaks were located at temperatures of about 425 K, 755 K, 1130 K and 1630 K. For PI sample, most of He was trapped in the carbon-dominated mixed-material layer and the corresponding desorption temperature was limited to be about 600 K, 900 K and 1200 K. The additional 3.0 keV helium ion (He+) implantation was performed for several samples to investigate the He retention characteristics in these samples and it was found that no additional desorption stage was found. These results suggested that the He discharge history and its deposition on the W plasma facing wall would affect He desorption behavior of W.

During the 19th experimental campaign in the Large Helical Device (LHD) in 2017, deuterium (D) plasma experiments were performed for the first time in the LHD. Tritons were generated by the D-D reaction in the core plasma during the plasma discharges. To remove the tritium in plasma facing surfaces for safety in maintenance, hydrogen (H) plasma experiments were performed for one month after the four months of D plasma experiments. In this study, the removal effect of the tritium by H plasma discharges was investigated. Six stainless steel (SUS316L) samples were introduced into a position of the first-wall of the LHD in the last month of the D experiments, which were exposed to the D plasma for one month and then, three samples were continued to exposure to the following H plasma for another one month. The experimental results showed that one-half of the tritium in the surface region of the SUS sample was removed, which was measured by the TIPT (Tritium imaging plate technique). Further, hydrothermal treatments were performed and the results showed that the tritium retention in the bulk of the SUS materials was also reduced. Meanwhile, the carbon content in the near-surface region was also reduced after H plasma experiments, which reduces the possibility of the formation of the C H chemical bond.

Hydrogen isotope exchange behavior on carbon (C)- tungsten (W) mixed material layer on W was studied as a function of gas exposure time and temperature. It was found that hydrogen isotope exchange enhanced the reduction of residual hydrogen effectively compared by only heating. The temperature dependence showed that hydrogen isotope exchange was the most effective at 523 K and above 573 K, thermal annealing reduced the total hydrogen isotope retention. It can be said that hydrogen isotope replacement is efficient to remove retained tritium on the surface region of mixture layer.

Processes occurring on the plasma-facing walls in the Large Helical Device (LHD) and in-vessel material migration were investigated using a technique of material deposition probes. Ten Si plates were located on the outer side of the first-wall surface in each 36° toroidal section (Nos. 1–10). Mixed-material layers deposited on the probes during the fiscal year 2012 plasma campaign contained carbon, boron, hydrogen, and metals from which the plasma-facing elements were made. Metallic impurities and hydrogen content in deposited layers were examined by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS) and elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA), respectively. The cross-sectional observations of the deposited mixed-material layers were performed with the help of a scanning electron microscope equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectrometer. The results of the combined RBS/ERDA analysis and TEM-EDX examination allow tracing the processes occurring on plasma-facing components during the plasma campaign.