Unraveling the plasma-material interface with real time diagnosis of dynamic boron conditioning in extreme tokamak plasmas

F. Javier Dominguez-Gutiérrez, Felipe Bedoya, Predrag S. Krstić, Jean P. Allain, Stephan Irle, Charles H. Skinner, Robert Kaita, Bruce Koel

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14 Scopus citations

Abstract

We present a study of the role of boron and oxygen in the chemistry of deuterium retention in boronized ATJ graphite irradiated by the extreme environment of a tokamak deuterium plasma. The experimental results were obtained by the first XPS measurements inside the plasma chamber of the National Spherical Torus Experiment Upgrade, between the plasma exposures. The subtle interplay of boron, carbon, oxygen and deuterium chemistry is explained by reactive molecular dynamics simulations, verified by quantum-classical molecular dynamics and successfully compared to the measured data. The calculations deciphered the roles of oxygen and boron for the deuterium retention and predict deuterium uptake into a boronized carbon surface close in value to that previously predicted for a lithiated and oxidized carbon surface.

Original languageEnglish
Article number086050
JournalNuclear Fusion
Volume57
Issue number8
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 21 2017
Externally publishedYes

Funding

This material is based upon work supported by the National Council for Science and Technology of Mexico (CONACyT) through the postdoctoral fellowship CVU 267898 (FJDG), by the USDOE FES Grant No. DE-SC0013752 through RF of SUNY (PSK), by the USDOE BES/FES Grant No. DE-SC0010717 (JPA and FB), and by DOE FES Grant No. DE-SC0012890 (BEK). Simulations were obtained using the LI-red cluster at the IACS-SBU, and by the NCCS supercomputing facility in ORNL.

Keywords

  • NSTX-U
  • boronization
  • deuterium retention
  • plasma-surface interactions

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