Suppression of tritium retention in remote areas of ITER by nonperturbative reactive gas injection

A technique based on reactive gas injection in the afterglow region of the divertor plasma is proposed for the suppression of tritium-carbon codeposits in remote areas of ITER when operated with carbon-based divertor targets. Experiments in a divertor simulator plasma device indicate that a 4¿¿nm/min deposition can be suppressed by addition of 1¿¿Pa·m3¿s-1 ammonia flow at 10 cm from the plasma. These results bolster the concept of nonperturbative scavenger injection for tritium inventory control in carbon-based fusion plasma devices, thus paving the way for ITER operation in the active phase under a carbon-dominated, plasma facing component background. © 2010 The American Physical Society.