RESEARCH ACTIVITIES ON CARBON BASED MATERIALS FOR PLASMA FACING COMPONENTS OF THE HT-7U SUPERCONDUCTING TOKAMAK DEVICE IN CHINA

Fusion power as a potential alternative, which can provide clean and infinite energy supply for future, has drawn great interest of China's government. A National Project of the HT 7U superconducting tokamak device is under building in IPP, CAS. Development and selection candidate materials for PFC of the HT 7U device are critically important due to its operation conditions under high heat flux and steady state. Some intensive collaboration research on carbon based materials for PFC of the HT 7U device has been carried out in this field between ICC, CAS and IPP, CAS. This paper introduces the benefits of fusion energy and some basic concepts such as tokamak, plasma, plasma facing components and plasma wall interactions. The primary results about carbon based materials for PFC of the HT 7U are presented. Detailed investigation and research results will be summarized and reported in a series of papers later.