Table of contents

The edge transport properties of the toroidally discrete limiter configuration in the ITER start-up phase has been analysed, using the 3D edge transport code, EMC3-EIRENE. Because of the finite magnetic shear in the edge, the interaction of the limiters with flux surfaces of different q-values introduces a complex 3D pattern in the connection length (L_C) profiles, where long and short flux tubes co-exist in the scrape-off layer. The severity of problems associated with very long flux tubes in the edge, which could bring a large amount of energy (proportional to the square root of L_C) and cause a hot spot on the limiter, was mitigated and no significant localized power load was found. This can be justified as follows. (i) For long flux tubes, the perpendicular energy transport time becomes shorter than the parallel energy transport time, resulting in no net energy input to the flux tube. (ii) Perpendicular transport was found to be very effective to smear out the difference in the parallel energy flux conducted by the various flux tubes, if they interact within a perpendicular transport scale, about a few cm, which is usually the case in high plasma current ITER start-up configuration. These two effects significantly reduce the dependence of energy deposition on L_C. At the high plasma current (e.g. 6.5 MA), the peak power load is found to be close to the engineering limit, especially for lowest perpendicular transport coefficients and the highest input power. Comparing the results of the 3D modelling with a radial exponential decay model, it was found that by neglecting the 3D geometrical effects, the simple model overestimates the peak power load by ∼30% for corresponding input power and radial decay of energy flux.

High density internal transport barriers with peaked density profiles have been produced at JET by optimizing the pellet fuelling, heating power, current drive and plasma start-up. The scenario was developed with moderate momentum input and comparable ion and electron temperatures. Both features aim at matching the conditions envisaged for a burning plasma regime. Current and density profiles, which both appear to influence transport barrier formation, were independently controlled. The optimization recipe included early lower hybrid current drive followed by an Ohmic or neutral beam heated pellet fuelling gap. The internal transport barrier was then formed at the start of a high power additionally heated phase. Typical plasmas were at a toroidal field of 3 T and plasma current of 2 MA, corresponding to a peripheral safety factor q₉₅ ≈ 5. Particle and energy transport were analysed by a 1.5 dimensional code including a pellet ablation module and a criterion for the barrier formation. Results of turbulence simulations with global electrostatic and electromagnetic fluid codes and a description of the observed magnetohydrodynamic instabilities are also reported.

Controlled experiments on the suppression of the m/n = 2/1 tearing mode with electron cyclotron heating and current drive in TEXTOR are reported. The mode was produced reproducibly by an externally applied rotating perturbation field, allowing a systematic study of its suppression. Heating inside the island of the mode is shown to be the dominant suppression mechanism in these experiments. An extrapolation of these findings to ITER indicates that the projected system for suppression of the tearing mode could be significantly more effective than present estimates indicate, which only consider the effect of the current drive but not of the heating inside the island.

New results from the generation of runaways and the loss of runaway electrons in an ergodized magnetic field are presented. For the generation process, a clear difference between a 'normal' and a clean, freshly boronized wall condition has been found. Under clean wall conditions, one observes at low densities not only the runaway electrons with energies up to 30 MeV and at discharges with even lower electron density one finds more runaway electrons but at an energy in the low-MeV regime. The runaway electrons are utilized as test particles for revealing the ergodized magnetic field line structure. For the measurements the m/n = 6/2 base mode configuration of the dynamic ergodic divertor (DED), has been applied. One observes a clear modification of the radial runaway profile with preferential losses in the ergodized zone. From the loss rate of the runaway electrons due to ergodization and from the redistribution of the runaways after the DED phase, the diffusion rate is estimated to be of the order of 0.1 m² s⁻¹.

A magnetohydrodynamic numerical model for hydrogenic pellet ablation in the electrostatic approximation has been developed based on the method of front tracking. The main features of the model are the explicit tracking of interfaces that separate the solid pellet from the ablated gas and the cold, dense and weakly ionized ablation cloud from the highly conducting fusion plasma, a surface ablation model, a kinetic model for the electron heat flux and an equation of state accounting for atomic processes in the ablation cloud. The interaction of the pellet ablation flow with the magnetic field including the J × B Lorentz force is studied here systematically for the first time. The model has also been validated through the comparison with the semi-analytic Transonic Flow model and previous purely hydrodynamic simulations. Contrary to prevailing expectations, the ablation rate is reduced only slightly when the geometry is changed from spherically symmetric to axially symmetric, in the case of purely hydrodynamic models. However, in the magnetohydrodynamic simulations the J × B force funnels the flow into an extended plasma shield, which intercepts the incident plasma heat flux and reduces the ablation rate, depending on the rise time of heat flux seen by the pellet. Shorter 'warm-up' times lead to narrower ablation channels, stronger shielding and reduced ablation rates. This new feature implies that pellets traversing strong plasma gradients, as in the edge pedestal region of the ITER plasma, could have significantly lower ablation rates if injected at higher velocity.

This paper presents a detailed study of carbon production and transport from the ergodic divertor (ED) target plates to the plasma core in the Tore Supra tokamak. Adapted experimental and numerical modelling techniques have been used to describe each of the main phenomena in play. Edge electron density and temperature are measured with Langmuir probes. The C II, C III and H_α emission is measured with optical fibres and cameras. The background plasma flow is calculated consistently with the observed recycling pattern by the neutral transport code EDCOLL for the two magnetic connection schemes of interest (short or long connection lengths). 3D Monte-Carlo modelling of carbon near the neutralizer plate (BBQ code) shows that the transport of carbon ions is governed by the friction force in addition to the electric field. Finally, a simplified 3D test particle model is used to estimate the core penetration fraction of carbon. A high value is found for the carbon screening efficiency (fraction of particles that does not penetrate in the plasma core), in the range 95–97% depending on the edge plasma conditions. This value, combined with the calculated carbon influxes, yields the first quantitative estimate of the carbon core contamination during ED operation. The paper shows that the screening of carbon and core contamination are mainly dependent on the carbon source (partially controlled with the ED) and the plasma flow distribution in the laminar region (magnetic topology and particle drifts).

The cold pulse propagation is a powerful tool for the study of heat transport and the determination of perturbative electron heat diffusivity . In this paper the experimental study of cold pulses generated by pellet injection in a reversed-field pinch device is described. The most common phenomenology is an inward cold pulse propagation, from the edge to the core; however, we will describe that outward propagation can occur if the pellet ablates up to the plasma centre. A model to simulate the dynamics of the pulse (i.e. the relation between the arrival time of the pulse and its radial position) has been developed. With this model it is possible to explain the cold pulse phenomenologies as well as to estimate in the plasma core. The heat diffusivity in standard and enhanced confinement plasmas has been determined and compared; in standard regimes is three times larger than in enhanced confinement regimes. Finally, it has been possible to confirm a scaling between diffusivity and magnetic stochasticity.