Quality control of plasma facing components for Tore Supra

The high technology components used in fusion devices, especially high heat flux (HHF) plasma facing components, require high reliability. This can be only guaranteed by a very high level of quality control (QC) through rigorous acceptance inspection procedure. Qualification of the power exhaust capabilities of HHF components in normal operation requires control of their thermal and mechanical integrity. During the last 4 years, the Tore Supra QC team improved acceptance inspection procedures for HHF components, which have been 100% controlled before their installation in the Tokamak. Innovative investigations of non-destructive techniques, such as pressure drop test, helium leak testing procedure, infrared thermography, were performed and it was shown that these techniques are essential tools for QC of critical parts.