Power requirements for electron cyclotron current drive and ion cyclotron resonance heating for sawtooth control in ITER

13MW of electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) power deposited inside the q = 1 surface is likely to reduce the sawtooth period in ITER baseline scenario below the level empirically predicted to trigger neo-classical tearing modes (NTMs). However, since the ECCD control scheme is solely predicated upon changing the local magnetic shear, it is prudent to plan to use a complementary scheme which directly decreases the potential energy of the kink mode in order to reduce the sawtooth period. In the event that the natural sawtooth period is longer than expected, due to enhanced alpha particle stabilisation for instance, this ancillary sawtooth control can be provided from > 10MW of ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) power with a resonance just inside the q = 1 surface. Both ECCD and ICRH control schemes would benefit greatly from active feedback of the deposition with respect to the rational surface. If the q = 1 surface can be maintained closer to the magnetic axis, the efficacy of ECCD and ICRH schemes significantly increases, the negative effect on the fusion gain is reduced, and off-axis negative-ion neutral beam injection (NNBI) can also be considered for sawtooth control. Consequently, schemes to reduce the q = 1 radius are highly desirable, such as early heating to delay the current penetration and, of course, active sawtooth destabilisation to mediate small frequent sawteeth and retain a small q = 1 radius.Comment: 29 pages, 16 figure

Ansiedad y respuestas electrofisiológicas a una tarea de estrés mental tras un ejercicio aeróbico máximo

El objetivo del presente trabajo fue analizar las relaciones de la ansiedad con determinadas respuestas fisiológicas a una tarea de estrés mental. Para ello, se tomó una muestra de deportistas de élite varones de la Comunidad Valenciana de diferentes disciplinas deportivas. De acuerdo con las puntuaciones que los sujetos obtuvieron en las escalas STAI-R y STAI-E, completadas antes y después respectivamente, de una ergometría máxima, fueron separados en dos grupos extremos de alta y baja ansiedad. Se registraron de forma computerizada la frecuencia cardíaca y la actividad electrodérmica antes, durante y después de una tarea Stroop en ordenador. Los niveles basales de actividad electrodérmica fueron más elevados en los sujetos con ansiedad-estado alta durante el periodo anterior a la realización de la tarea y en la fase de recuperación. Sin embargo, la frecuencia cardíaca no fue diferente en función de la ansiedad, aunque sí estaba relacionada positivamente con la ejecución en tareaThe aim of this study was the analysis of the relationships between anxiety and physiological responses to a mental stress task. The sample consisted of elite male sportsmen of the Comunidad Valenciana who practise several sports. The subjects were assignated to two groups depending on the anxiety levels recorded through Stai-T and Stai-S tests before and after a task of maxim ergometry. Heart rate and electrodermal response were registered automatically before, during and after a computer Stroop task. The basal levels of electrodermal activity were higher in high anxiety-state subjects during the period previous to the task and the recovery period. Heart rate did not differ in relation with the anxiety level but was positively related to the Stroop performanc

Sawtooth control in ITER using ion cyclotron resonance heating

Numerical modelling of the effects of ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) on the stability of the internal kink mode suggests that ICRH should be considered as an essential sawtooth control tool in ITER. Sawtooth control using ICRH is achieved by directly affecting the energy of the internal kink mode rather than through modification of the magnetic shear by driving localized currents. Consequently, ICRH can be seen as complementary to the planned electron cyclotron current drive actuator, and indeed will improve the efficacy of current drive schemes. Simulations of the ICRH distribution using independent RF codes give confidence in numerical predictions that the stabilizing influence of the fusion-born alphas can be negated by appropriately tailored minority He-3 ICRH heating in ITER. Finally, the effectiveness of all sawtooth actuators is shown to increase as the q = 1 surface moves towards the manetic axis, whilst the passive stabilization arising from the alpha and NBI particles decreases

RF sheath modeling of experimentally observed plasma surface interactions with the JET ITER-Like Antenna

Waves in the Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequencies (ICRF) enhance local Plasma-Surface Interactions (PSI) near the wave launchers and magnetically-connected objects via Radio-Frequency (RF) sheath rectification. ITER will use 20MW of ICRF power over long pulses, questioning the long-term impact of RF-enhanced localized erosion on the lifetime of its Beryllium (Be) wall. Recent dedicated ICRF-heated L-mode discharges documented this process on JET for different types of ICRF antennas. Using visible spectroscopy in JET ICRF-heated L-mode discharges, poloidally-localized regions of enhanced (by similar to 2-4x) Be I and Be II light emission were observed on two outboard limiters magnetically connected to the bottom of the active ITER-Like Antenna (ILA). The observed RF-PSI induced by the ILA was qualitatively comparable to that induced by the JET standard, type-A2 antennas, for similar strap toroidal phasing and connection geometries. The Be II line emission was found more intense when powering the bottom half of the ILA rather than its top half. Conversely, more pronounced SOL density modifications were observed with only top array operation, on field lines connected to the top half of the ILA. So far the near-field modeling of the ILA with antenna code TOPICA (Torino Polytechnic Ion Cyclotron Antenna), using curved antenna model, was partially able to reproduce qualitatively the observed phenomena. A quantitative discrepancy persisted between the observed Be source amplification and the calculated, corresponding increases in E-// field at the magnetically connected locations to the ILA when changing from only top to only bottom half antenna operation. This paper revisits these current drive phased and half-ILA powered cases using for the new simulations flat model of the ILA and more realistic antenna feeding to calculate the E-// field maps with TOPICA code. Further, the Self-consistent Sheaths and Waves for Ion Cyclotron Heating Slow Wave (SSWICH-SW) code, which couples slow wave evanescence with DC Scrape-Off Layer (SOL) biasing, is used to estimate the poloidal distribution of rectified RF-sheath Direct Current (DC) potential V-DC in the private SOL between the ILA poloidal limiters. The approach so far was limited to correlating the observed, enhanced emission regions at the remote limiters to the antenna near-electric fields, as calculated by TOPICA. The present approach includes also a model for the rectification of these near-fields in the private SOL of the ILA. With the improved approach, when comparing only top and only bottom half antenna feeding, we obtained good qualitative correlation between all experimental measurements and the calculated local variations in the E-// field and V-DC potential.Peer reviewe

A machine learning approach based on generative topographic mapping for disruption prevention and avoidance at JET

The need for predictive capabilities greater than 95% with very limited false alarms are demanding requirements for reliable disruption prediction systems in tokamaks such as JET or, in the near future, ITER. The prediction of an upcoming disruption must be provided sufficiently in advance in order to apply effective disruption avoidance or mitigation actions to prevent the machine from being damaged. In this paper, following the typical machine learning workflow, a generative topographic mapping (GTM) of the operational space of JET has been built using a set of disrupted and regularly terminated discharges. In order to build the predictive model, a suitable set of dimensionless, machine-independent, physics-based features have been synthesized, which make use of 1D plasma profile information, rather than simple zero-D time series. The use of such predicting features, together with the power of the GTM in fitting the model to the data, obtains, in an unsupervised way, a 2D map of the multi-dimensional parameter space of JET, where it is possible to identify a boundary separating the region free from disruption from the disruption region. In addition to helping in operational boundaries studies, the GTM map can also be used for disruption prediction exploiting the potential of the developed GTM toolbox to monitor the discharge dynamics. Following the trajectory of a discharge on the map throughout the different regions, an alarm is triggered depending on the disruption risk of these regions. The proposed approach to predict disruptions has been evaluated on a training and an independent test set and achieves very good performance with only one tardive detection and a limited number of false detections. The warning times are suitable for avoidance purposes and, more important, the detections are consistent with physical causes and mechanisms that destabilize the plasma leading to disruptions.Peer reviewe

Investigation of deuterium trapping and release in the JET divertor during the third ILW campaign using TDS

Selected set of samples from JET ITER-Like Wall (JET-ILW) divertor tiles exposed in 2015-2016 has been analysed using Thermal Desorption Spectrometry (TDS). The deuterium (D) amounts obtained with TDS were compared with Nuclear Reaction Analysis (NRA). The highest amount of D was found on the top part of inner divertor which has regions with the thickest deposited layers as for divertor tiles removed in 2014. This area resides deep in the scrape-off layer and plasma configurations for the second (ILW-2, 2013-2014) and the third (ILW-3, 2015-2016) JET-ILW campaigns were similar. Agreement between TDS and NRA is good on the apron of Tile 1 and on the upper vertical region whereas on the lower vertical region of Tile 1 the NRA results are clearly smaller than the TDS results. Inner divertor Tile 3 has somewhat less D than Tiles 0 and 1, and the D amount decreases towards the lower part of the tile. The D retention at the divertor inner and outer corner regions is not symmetric as there is more D retention poloidally at the inner than at the outer divertor corner. In most cases the TDS spectra for the ILW-3 samples are different from the corresponding ILW-2 spectra because HD and D-2 release occurs at higher temperatures than from the ILW-2 samples indicating that the low energy traps have been emptied during the plasma operations and that D is either in the energetically deep traps or located deeper in the sample.Peer reviewe

Modelling of tungsten erosion and deposition in the divertor of JET-ILW in comparison to experimental findings

The erosion, transport and deposition of tungsten in the outer divertor of JET-ILW has been studied for an H-Mode discharge with low frequency ELMs. For this specific case with an inter-ELM electron temperature at the strike point of about 20 eV, tungsten sputtering between ELMs is almost exclusively due to beryllium impurity and self-sputtering. However, during ELMs tungsten sputtering due to deuterium becomes important and even dominates. The amount of simulated local deposition of tungsten relative to the amount of sputtered tungsten in between ELMs is very high and reaches values of 99% for an electron density of 5E13 cm(-3) at the strike point and electron temperatures between 10 and 30 eV. Smaller deposition values are simulated with reduced electron density. The direction of the B-field significantly influences the local deposition and leads to a reduction if the E x B drift directs towards the scrape-off-layer. Also, the thermal force can reduce the tungsten deposition, however, an ion temperature gradient of about 0.1 eV/mm or larger is needed for a significant effect. The tungsten deposition simulated during ELMs reaches values of about 98% assuming ELM parameters according to free-streaming model. The measured WI emission profiles in between and within ELMs have been reproduced by the simulation. The contribution to the overall net tungsten erosion during ELMs is about 5 times larger than the one in between ELMs for the studied case. However, this is due to the rather low electron temperature in between ELMs, which leads to deuterium impact energies below the sputtering threshold for tungsten.Peer reviewe

Comparison of the structure of the plasma-facing surface and tritium accumulation in beryllium tiles from JET ILW campaigns 2011-2012 and 2013-2014

In this study, beryllium tiles from Joint European Torus (JET) vacuum vessel wall were analysed and compared regarding their position in the vacuum vessel and differences in the exploitation conditions during two campaigns of ITER-Like-Wall (ILW) in 2011-2012 (ILW1) and 2013-2014 (ILW2) Tritium content in beryllium samples were assessed. Two methods were used to measure tritium content in the samples - dissolution under controlled conditions and tritium thermal desorption. Prior to desorption and dissolution experiments, scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy were used to study structure and chemical composition of plasma-facing-surfaces of the beryllium samples. Experimental results revealed that tritium content in the samples is in range of 2.10(11)-2.10(13) tritium atoms per square centimetre of the surface area with its highest content in the samples from the outer wall of the vacuum vessel (up to 1.9.10(13) atoms/cm(2) in ILW1 campaign and 2.4.10(13) atoms/cm(2) in ILW2). The lowest content of tritium was found in the upper part of the vacuum vessel (2.0.10(12) atoms/cm(2) and 2.0.10(11) atoms/cm(2) in ILW1 and ILW2, respectively). Results obtained from scanning electron microscopy has shown that surface morphology is different within single tile, however if to compare two campaigns main tendencies remains similar.Peer reviewe

Dynamic modelling of local fuel inventory and desorption in the whole tokamak vacuum vessel for auto-consistent plasma-wall interaction simulations

An extension of the SolEdge2D-EIRENE code package, named D-WEE, has been developed to add the dynamics of thermal desorption of hydrogen isotopes from the surface of plasma facing materials. To achieve this purpose, D-WEE models hydrogen isotopes implantation, transport and retention in those materials. Before launching autoconsistent simulation (with feedback of D-WEE on SolEdge2D-EIRENE), D-WEE has to be initialised to ensure a realistic wall behaviour in terms of dynamics (pumping or fuelling areas) and fuel content. A methodology based on modelling is introduced to perform such initialisation. A synthetic plasma pulse is built from consecutive SolEdge2D-EIRENE simulations. This synthetic pulse is used as a plasma background for the D-WEE module. A sequence of plasma pulses is simulated with D-WEE to model a tokamak operation. This simulation enables to extract at a desired time during a pulse the local fuel inventory and the local desorption flux density which could be used as initial condition for coupled plasma-wall simulations. To assess the relevance of the dynamic retention behaviour obtained in the simulation, a confrontation to post-pulse experimental pressure measurement is performed. Such confrontation reveals a qualitative agreement between the temporal pressure drop obtained in the simulation and the one observed experimentally. The simulated dynamic retention during the consecutive pulses is also studied.Peer reviewe