Experiments to measure hydrogen release from graphite walls during disruptions in DIII-D

Spectroscopy and wall tile bake-out measurements are performed in the DIII-D tokamak to estimate the amount of hydrogen stored in and released from the walls during disruptions. Both naturally occurring disruptions and disruptions induced by massive gas injection (MGI) are investigated. The measurements indicate that both types of disruptions cause a net release of order 1021 hydrogen (or deuterium) atoms from the graphite walls. This is comparable to the pre-disruptions plasma particle inventory, so the released hydrogen is important for accurate modeling of disruptions. However, the amount of hydrogen released is small compared to the total saturated wall inventory of order 1022–1023, so it appears that many disruptions are necessary to provide full pump-out of the vessel walls.