Fusion Safety Studies in Russia in 1996

The paper seeks to provide a summary report of observations and results of some Russian fusion safety studies performed in 1996. Release of tritium and helium from neutron irradiated beryllium at relatively high neutron fluences has a burst nature. With the growth of the beryllium temperature-increase rate to 90 K/s, the temperature of tritium burst release decreases from ∼800 to 450–500°C and for helium decreases from ∼1200 to ∼500°C. Characterization of carbon and tungsten dust produced in experiments simulating plasma disruptions revealed that dust particle distribution of sizes for graphites and carbon fiber composites has a bimodal nature with maxima in the range of 0.01–0.03 and 2–4 μm for composite UAM and in the range of 0.14–0.18 and 2–4 μm for graphite MPG-8. Chemical reactivity of beryllium with air was studied as well. A mathematical model for beryllium weight gain under its chemical interaction with air at temperatures of 700–800°C as a function of beryllium porosity, temperature, and interaction duration was developed.