Finite element analysis of hydrogen retention in ITER plasma facing components using FESTIM

Abstract The behaviour of hydrogen isotopes in ITER monoblocks was studied using the code FESTIM (Finite Element Simulation of Tritium In Materials) which is introduced in this publication. FESTIM has been validated by reproducing experimental data and the Method of Manufactured Solutions was used for analytical verification. Following relevant plasma scenarios, both transient heat transfer and hydrogen isotopes (HIs) diffusion have been simulated in order to assess HIs retention in monoblocks. Relevant materials properties have been used. Each plasma cycle is composed of a current ramp up, a current plateau, a current ramp down and a resting phase before the following shot. 100 cycles are simulated. The total HIs inventory in the tokamak during resting phases reaches 1.8 * 10 − 3 m g whereas during the implantation phases it keeps increasing as a power law of time. Particle flux on the cooling channel of the monoblock is also computed. The breakthrough time is estimated to be t = 1 * 10 5 s which corresponds to 24 cycles. Relevance of 2D modelling has been demonstrated by comparing the total HIs inventory obtained by 2D and 1D simulations. Using 1D simulations, a relative error is observed compared to 2D simulations which can reach -25% during the resting phase. The error during implantation phases keeps increasing.