Mixed hydrogen isotopes plasma-driven permeation through CLF-1 RAFM steel for ITER HCCB TBM

Abstract The first wall of the helium-cooled ceramic breeder test blanket module (TBM) will be subjected to charge exchange neutral from the mixed deuterium (D) and tritium (T) deuterium–tritium (D–T) mixture plasma irradiation. To understand the isotope effects on mixed plasma-driven permeation (PDP) through the TBM wall, which is typically made by reduced activation martensitic/ferritic steel (RAFM), mixed D and protium (H) PDP experiments for a Chinese RAFM CLF-1 have been performed. Permeation fluxes of H and D through ∼mm thick CLF-1 have been recorded at various sample temperatures and particle incident energies. The co-permeation of H and D is found to be diffusion-limited in the bulk and obeys classical mass effects of diffusion species. The H/D ratio of the permeation fluxes is found to be stable when changing sample temperature and is insensitive to ion incident energy. In addition, the mixed H can provide more channels for D recombination to reduce the D permeation.