Theoretical study of the interaction of hydrogen with the tungsten surface: Application to Plasma-Surface Interactions in ITER

The production of clean, renewable energy by nuclear fusion of hydrogen isotopes is among the major challenges of 
the XXI century. However, the interaction between the plasma inside the reactor and its internal walls results to be a 
fundamental limitation for the development of ITER - International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor - the most 
advanced technological realization of such a project. Tungsten is one of the materials foreseen for ITER internal walls. 
The strong interactions between the hydrogen stream from the plasma and the surface of tungsten are known to induce 
a strong modification of the physical and chemical properties of the wall material. Among the properties of interest,
 we include the solubility and diffusivity of hydrogen and the catalytic action of the surface. Moreover, the behavior of 
hydrogen and its isotopes in the tungsten is presently not clearly understood.
This requires the development of predictive tools and models to extrapolate the behavior of tungsten in unknown situations. 
These tools will be integrated into a multi-scale approach in which the DFT - Density Functional Theory - is the starting 
step and the heart of the PhD work. Some statistical methods as Kinetic Monte Carlo - KMC - or Macroscopic Rate 
Equations will then be necessary to move to larger scales. This part of the project will be carried out in collaboration 
with CEA Cadarache research team and the University of Lille. This work should also be part of a broader framework 
than nuclear fusion. According to skills and aspirations of the candidate, excited state calculations for extended systems 
or the study of chemical reactivity and catalysis at the tungsten surface can be addressed. The candidate will possess a 
knowledge of condensed matter theory, theoretical chemistry, in particular DFT. Additional skills in Fortran 90 coding 
and Unix / Linux script writing would be appreciated.

Please contact Yves Ferro ([email protected]) for further informations.