Oxygen glow discharge experiment to remove deposited layers and to release trapped hydrogen isotopes in HT-7 superconducting tokamak

An experiment to remove re-deposited layers and to release hydrogen using a glow discharge in oxygen (O-GDC) has been performed in the HT-7 superconducting tokamak. In the absence of magnetic fields, the O-GDC wall conditioning had produced rapid, controlled co-deposit removal. Average removal rates, 5.2 × 1022 H-atoms/h, 5.65 × 1021 D-atoms/h and 5.53 × 1022 C-atoms/h, respectively, were obtained during 145 min O-GDC experiment in the pressure range 0.5–1.5 Pa. The corresponding removal rate of co-deposited films was ∼1.19 μm/day (26.5 g/day for carbon) based on an area of 12 m2. Compared to thermo-oxidation and O-ICR experiment, high pressure O-GDC wall conditioning promoted the oxidation and improved the C and D atoms removal. In the O-GDC experiment, the removal rates of H-atoms and D-atoms as H2O, HDO and D2O were higher than that of H2 and D2 by factors of about 20 and 50, respectively. During the 145 min O-GDC experiment, about 14.5% O-atoms were converted into carbon oxides and hydroxides, and about 5.37 × 1022 O-atoms were adsorbed on the walls corresponding to a coverage of 4.5 × 1021 O/m2 on an wall area of 12 m2. In a 100 min helium glow discharge (He-GDC) following the O-GDC experiment, 1.53 × 1022 O-atoms, about 28.5% oxygen retained on the walls, were removed. The removal rate of H-atoms in He-GDC cleaning after O-GDC experiment was lower than that in He-GDC cleaning before O-GDC experiment, which indicates that the O-GDC wall conditioning had effectively reduced hydrogen retention on the walls.