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Nitrogen (N2) will be used in ITER to enhance the radiative fraction to ∼90%, thereby cooling the edge plasma and preventing damage to the plasma-facing components. However, the reactivity of N2 with hydrogen isotopes can lead to the formation of tritiated ammonia (NT3). This should be considered in terms of the in-vessel tritium inventory, the regeneration of the cryo pumps, and the processes in the ITER de-tritiation plant. In the 'W' Environment in Steady-state Tokamak (WEST), a series of long L-mode discharges (∼50 s), with a constant N2 seeding from the outer strike point region has been performed on the upper actively cooled divertor. In the absence of active pumping, the N2 balance shows steady-state retention during plasma discharge, and is partially (∼35%) released in between discharges. Although a significant amount of N2(18.65 Pa m3) has been injected, the wall still exhibited N2 pumping capabilities. Under these conditions, as long as this N2 reservoir is not saturated, there is not enough N available for the detectable threshold of ND3 formation to be reached. In these WEST experiments, no ammonia is detected during the pulse or after the pulse in the outgassing phase. These results are consistent with and complementary to the N2 seeded experiments performed in the Joint European Torus (JET) with its ITER-like wall and in the Axially Symmetric Divertor Experiment (ASDEX) upgrade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Active wall monitoring systems are an increasingly important asset for safe operation of metallic wall steady state magnetic fusion experiments. • Wall Infrared diagnostic connection to plasma control system enables wall monitoring. • WEST operates the C4 experimental campaign in 2019 with an ITER relevant wall monitoring system (soft control plus hard interlock). • The control activates on 63 occurrences, principally on an upper divertor pipe being heated by particles losses. • It facilitated WEST path to high power operation during C4 campaign, by effectively managing the technical risks to critical wall components. A real time Wall Monitoring System (WMS) is used on the WEST tokamak during the C4 experimental campaign. The WMS uses the wall surface temperatures from 6 fields of view of the Infrared viewing system. It extracts the raw digital data from selected areas, converts it to temperatures using the calibration and write it on the shared memory network being used by the Plasma Control System (PCS). The PCS feeds back to actuators, namely the injected power from 5 antennae's of the lower hybrid and ion cyclotron resonance radiofrequency (RF) heating systems. WMS activates feed back control 63 times during C4, which is 14 % of the plasma discharges. It activates mainly as the result of a direct RF loss to the upper divertor pipes. The feedback control maintains the wall temperature within the operation envelope during 97 % of the occurrences, while enabling plasma discharge continuation. The false positive rate establishes at 0.2 %. WMS significantly facilitated the operation path to high power operation during C4, by managing the technical risks to critical wall components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]