Tritium issues to be solved for establishment of a fusion reactor

In order to establish a D–T fusion reactor as an energy source, economical conversion of fusion energy to electricity and/or heat, attaining enough margins in tritium breeding, and insuring tritium safety must be simultaneously achieved. Scientists and researchers working on Tritium in Japan are now tackling with T related problems. Their research subjects can be categorized into two, i.e. researches on “Science and technology” to establish safe and economic Tritium fuel cycle for fusion reactors and “Tritium safety”. Many researchers from various universities, and institutes such as NIFS, JAEA and IEA (Inst. Environmental Science) in Japan are involved in various research programs. In this report, after brief introduction on Tritium related researches in Japan, important T issues to be solved for establishment of a fusion reactor will be summarized considering the handling of large amount of tritium, i.e. fuelling, D–T burning, T inventory, exhausting, refinement, confinement, permeation, leakage, contamination, regulation and tritium accountancy.

► Overview of Japanese tritium researches. ► Introduction of necessary works for establishment of tritium safety. ► Tritium researches for burning plasma.