Deuterium inventory in Tore Supra: Contribution of carbon deposits outgassing

Abstract In carbon dominated devices, the in vessel D inventory obtained from post-mortem analyses of plasma facing component samples is generally smaller by a factor of ∼4 than that estimated from gas balance measurements. However, for an accurate evaluation of the wall inventory, gas balance measurements must be done not only during discharges and conditioning procedures, but also in between discharges and during vents. From the analysis of the whole Tore Supra database for the 2002–2007 period, we show that long term outgassing during nights, weekends and vents is essential for evaluating the deuterium release. Taking these contributions into account reconciles the gas balance and post-mortem estimations of fuel retention.