August 8, 2024
The Metal Foil Pump offers a means to rapidly separate hydrogen isotopes from the exhaust gases of a fusion reactor, reducing tritium inventories by a significant factor while also leading to substantial decreases in the cost of reactor tritium processing systems. Recent work has demonstrated record performance in new materials used for the pump’s separation membrane, but these materials have been tested in a limited range of experimental conditions. This project aims to characterize membrane performance under conditions representative of planned fusion devices, increasing the technology readiness level of this component and accelerating the deployment of metal foil pumps onto a timeline consistent with the decadal vision for the first pilot plants on the grid.