The present project is put into the context of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) under construction in Cadarache (France). The common goal of the WHeSCI and WHISCI projects is to replace the current limited wall description by a global wall model, stringently derived and tested on well controlled theoretical and experimental data sets.

Macroscopic Rate Equations (MRE) models have been developed to describe how fusion fuel (deuterium (D) and tritium (T) ions) and fusion ash (He ions) are trapped/released in wall materials. These models consider D/T/He as mobile species which can be trapped at various defects sites (vacancies, dislocations, impurities, grain boundaries...) and can be released by thermal processes. Unfortunately, available experimental data sets were plagued with large uncertainties because they were built upon results from different groups with too much variability in the origin, preparation and characterization of samples, the D/T/He implantation procedure and the precision of the D/T/He release measurement.

In the WHISCI project, the needed experimental data set has been built for the D fuel for tungsten samples with incrementally controlled defect types complexity thanks to an all in situ characterization/D implantation/D release experimental apparatus. These controlled experiments have been used together with a multi-scale modeling approach to construct an ab-initio based MRE model for D interaction with tungsten (see our 2017 Nuclear Fusion article in the "publications" tab, ref. [7]). This achievement is a first necessary step before a complete MRE D/T/He wall model is developed that includes both D/T and He interaction with tungsten and other fusion reactor wall materials.

The WHeSCI project, starting in 2018, proposed to move to the next steps for the development of a global wall model. First, we are expanding the D/T MRE wall model to neutron-like damaged tungsten. Second, we are further studying the surface impurities effect onto D/T trapping and recycling. Third, we are tackling the complexity of bubble growth in a MRE wall model of tungsten with He implantation experiments. Fourth, we are developping a self-consistent integration of a MRE wall model with a edge plasma model. Finally, we are studying the evolution of the optical properties of fusion material with the aim to develop a laser-based method for extracting tritium from tokamaks wall... a summary of the projects' results will come soon!