Modelling of plasma-surface interactions in ITER
Project description
The provision of plasma-facing components (PFC) with a sufficient lifetime is one of the major technological obstacles to be overcome in the development of thermonuclear fusion reactors such as ITER. The PFC integrity is mostly threatened by fast transient power loading on millisecond timescales during which surface melting is essentially inevitable due to the high plasma stored energies. The metallic melt is subject to plasma-induced forces which displace the material and may cause large-scale surface deformations as well as create droplets. Re-solidified droplets are the main source of dust whose amount in ITER is stringently restricted by nuclear licensing. It is, thus, crucial to model the consequences of melt events and droplet survival.
Year
Team
Royal Institute of Technology, KTH
- S. Ratynskaia, Professor, Plasma Physics
- P. Tolias, Ph.D., Researcher, Plasma Physics
- L. Vignitchouk, Ph.D., Researcher, Computational Plasma Physics
Core deliverables
- Development and validation of numerical model for macroscopic melt motion (the MEMOS-U code)
- Development and validation of numerical model for dust / droplet transport and life-time (the MIGRAINe code)
- Impact of electron emission on tokamak edge plasmas.
- Theory and experiments of dust remobilization.
- Theory and experiments of dust adhesion.
Total budget
Collaborations
- Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics, Garching, Germany
- Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, UK
- Institute for Plasma Science and Technology - CNR Milano, Italy
- Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research, Netherlands