Depth profile of tritium in plasma exposed CX-2002U

Depth profiles of the Ag grains density in autoradiographs, which represent tritium concentration in CX-2002U samples exposed to high flux D/T particl es under various conditions, were examined and the apparent diffusion coeff icients were estimated from the profiles. Plasma discharge generating D/T a tomized particles with low energies increases tritium inventory in the samp les by introducing high tritium concentration on the surface exposed and fo llowing diffusion process into the deep region with apparent diffusion coef ficients (1.7 x 10(-16) m(2)/s at 293 K and 2.3 x 10(-15) m(2)/s at 573 K), which are much larger than the diffusion coefficients in the bulk reported . Oxygen RF-plasma exposure might be effective to remove tritium retained e ven at a fairly deep region in carbon fiber composite (CFC) components. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.