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Hydrogen Transport in Nuclear Energy Systems

A Special Issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073) belonging to the section "B4: Nuclear Energy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 November 2026 | Viewed by 591

Editor

School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an, China
Interests: nuclear energy

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Nuclear energy plays a critical role in the global transition toward low-carbon and sustainable energy systems. Within nuclear energy systems, hydrogen transport phenomena arise in a wide range of contexts, including proton-induced hydrogen generation and migration in accelerator-driven neutron sources, hydrogen and hydrogen isotope (H/D/T) transport in fusion reactor materials under high-temperature and -irradiation environments, and hydrogen generation, accumulation, and transport during spent nuclear fuel reprocessing and associated chemical processes, hydrogen and tritium migration in structural materials, nuclear-assisted hydrogen production processes, and hybrid nuclear–hydrogen energy systems. Understanding and controlling hydrogen transport is therefore essential for improving system efficiency, safety, reliability, and long-term performance.

This Special Issue aims to present and disseminate the most recent scientific and technological advances related to hydrogen transport in nuclear energy systems, covering fundamental transport mechanisms, modeling and simulation, experimental characterization, and system-level applications. Emphasis is placed on interdisciplinary studies that link materials science, thermal–fluid transport, nuclear engineering, and energy system analysis, in line with the scope of Energies, which focuses on energy generation, conversion, transport, utilization, and system integration.

Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to, the following:

  • Hydrogen and hydrogen isotope transport and diffusion in nuclear energy systems and reactor components;
  • Hydrogen-related degradation phenomena affecting nuclear reactor performance and reliability;
  • Proton-induced hydrogen generation, diffusion and transport in accelerator-driven nuclear systems;
  • Hydrogen and tritium behavior in fusion reactors and associated energy systems;
  • Hydrogen generation, accumulation, and safety issues in spent fuel reprocessing;
  • Experimental characterization and multiphysics modeling and simulation for hydrogen transport in nuclear systems;
  • Integration of nuclear energy with hydrogen infrastructures and hybrid energy systems.

This Special Issue welcomes original research articles and reviews that contribute new insights into hydrogen transport phenomena and support the development of advanced nuclear energy systems for a clean and sustainable energy future.

Dr. Yupeng Xie
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

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Keywords

  • hydrogen transport
  • hydrogen isotopes
  • nuclear energy systems

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

13 pages, 1614 KB  
Article
Deuterium Retention in Tungsten and Its Removal by Glow Discharge Cleaning and Baking
by Guanghui Ma and Hailin Bi
Energies 2026, 19(14), 3355; https://doi.org/10.3390/en19143355 - 16 Jul 2026
Viewed by 319
Abstract
Hydrogen isotope retention in tungsten plasma-facing components affects particle recycling, plasma-density control, and tritium inventory management in fusion devices. In this study, a glow discharge cleaning (GDC) platform and a thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) system were used to investigate deuterium (D) retention in [...] Read more.
Hydrogen isotope retention in tungsten plasma-facing components affects particle recycling, plasma-density control, and tritium inventory management in fusion devices. In this study, a glow discharge cleaning (GDC) platform and a thermal desorption spectroscopy (TDS) system were used to investigate deuterium (D) retention in polished tungsten and the response of the retained D signal to He-GDC, H2-GDC, and thermal baking treatments. Tungsten samples were first loaded by D2-GDC and then characterized by TDS during programmed heating from room temperature to 917 °C at 10 K min−1. Under the present data-reduction procedure, the D2-GDC-only sample gave an apparent TDS-equivalent D inventory of approximately 7.85 × 1019 D m−2, corresponding to about 29.5% of the estimated incident D fluence. Relative to this D2-GDC reference sample, the normalized removal fractions were 9.3% for low-power He-GDC, 28.2% for high-power He-GDC, and 65.6% for the tested H2-GDC condition. The H2-GDC result is consistent with an isotope-exchange-assisted removal pathway, but the gas-species effect cannot be isolated because the H2 and He treatments were not performed with identical pressure, duration, current, voltage, and sample-temperature histories. Stepwise baking at 240–350 °C did not fully suppress subsequent D-derived TDS release, indicating that part of the retained D remained in more stable trapping states. Because independent replicates and certified HD/D2 sensitivity calibration were not available for all conditions, the inventories are reported as apparent values and the conclusions are restricted to normalized comparisons under the tested laboratory conditions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Hydrogen Transport in Nuclear Energy Systems)
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