Reactor technology — Nuclear fusion reactors — Hot helium leak testing method for high temperature pressure-bearing components in nuclear fusion reactors

This document specifies the methods and techniques for leak tightness assessment of a metallic component at high temperature by measuring its total leakage rates in a vacuum chamber with a tracer gas leak detector and high-pressure helium gas or the gas mixture flowing out of the component as tracer gas during its thermal and pressure cycles at its operating conditions. The minimum detectable leakage rate can be as low as 10-10 Pa·m3/s, depending on the dimension, external configuration complexity and materials of the component, and is strongly related to the test system and the test conditions.

This document is applicable for the hot helium leak test of in-vessel components as per its normal operating conditions in nuclear fusion reactors, which operate at elevated temperatures in an ultra-high vacuum environment down to 10-6 Pa and with inner flowing-coolant at operating pressure. It is also applicable to the overall leak tightness test of welds in other metallic components and equipment that could be evacuated and pressurized, such as pressurized tanks, pipes and valves in power plants, aerospace and other nuclear reactors.