Deuterium retention and erosion properties of nanostructured W coatings

One of the aims of the ITER Tokamak is to demonstrate the feasibility of a prolonged fusion power production based on a deuterium (D)- tritium (T) plasma. Plasma facing materials (PFMs) are a key issue for this objective. ITER will use tungsten (W) in the divertor baffle and other regions, which will be subject to high fluxes of energetic particles. Although, W is considered the most suitable material for the divertor region, owing to its high sputtering threshold and melting point, the possible co-deposition of tritium with tungsten needs to be assessed for safety requirements. The redeposited W coatings in the divertor could have different morphologies and/or nanostructures. The present research activity aims to study different nanostructured W coatings exposed to high-flux D plasma (>1024 m-2s-1) to evaluate the hydrogenic retention properties.