Tritium removal by CO2 laser heating

Efficient techniques for rapid tritium removal will be necessary for ITER to meet its physics and engineering goals. One potential technique is transient surface heating by a scanning CO₂ or Nd:YAG laser that would release tritium without the severe engineering difficulties of bulk heating of the vessel. We have modeled the heat propagation into a surface layer and find that a multi-kW/cm² flux with a exposure time of order 10 ms is suitable to heat a 50 micron co-deposited layer to 1,000-2,000 degrees. Improved wall conditioning may be a significant side benefit. We identify remaining issues that need to be addressed experimentally